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THE 



STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS 
OF THE TRUTH 



By J. W. LOWBER, Sc. D., Ph.D. 

Member of the American Institute of Christian Philosophy and Associate 
of the Philosophical Society of Great Britain 






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CINCINNATI, O. : 

STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY 

GUIDE PRINTING & PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1888 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1888, by 

J. W. LOWBER, Sc. D., Ph. D., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 






PREFACE. 

The following work is the outcome of lectures and 
addresses on special occasions. A good deal of Part 
I. was published in the Disciple of Christ. The ser- 
mons in Part II. and the lectures in Part III. have 
been delivered on a number of occasions in different 
parts of the United States. 

As the author always speaks without manuscript 
■or notes, the printed addresses will necessarily differ 
from those spoken. The material, however, is very 
much the same. A grateful acknowledgment is made 
to all the writers from whom information has been ob- 
tained, and a number of names will appear in the body 
of the book. It is the sincere desire of one who con- 
stantly seeks the truth, that these pages may benefit 
those who see proper to read them. 

Author. 



TO MY WIFE, 

WHO SYMPATHIZES WITH AND ASSISTS ME IN ALL MY 

LITERARY WORK, IS THIS VOLUME 

AFFECTIONATELY 

INSCRIBED 

BY THE AUTHOR. 



CONTENTS. 

Preface iii. 

Biographical and Phrenological Sketch ix. 

Part I.— STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS OF THE 

CHURCH. 

Chapter I. 
Preparation of the World for the Introduction of Christianity I 

Chapter II. 
The Conflict between Christianity and Judaism 13 

Chapter III. 
Triumph of Christianity over Paganism 24 

Chapter IV. 
The Church of the Middle Ages 36 

Chapter V. 
Luther and the Reformation 49 

Chapter VI. 
John Calvin and the Presbyterians 61 

Chapter VII. 
Henry VIII. and the Episcopalians 7° 

Chapter VIII. 
The Greatest Political Struggles of Protestantism : 

I. Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots 79 

II. Gustavus Adolphus and the Thirty Years' War 84 

III. Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' War 91 

IV. Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth of England ... 99 

V. The Prince of Orange and the Siege of T.eyden 109 



VI. CONTENTS. 

Chapter IX. 
Puritanism and Quakerism 119 

Chapter X. 
Swedenborg and the New Church 1 26 

Chapter XI. 
Unitarianism and Universalism ... 133 

Chapter XII. 
Adventism and Materialism 140 

Chapter XIII. 
John Wesley and the Methodists 148 

Chapter XIV. 
Roger Williams and the Baptists , 155 

Chapter XV. 
Alexander Campbell and the Disciples 162 



Part II.— THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

Christianity the Highest Science 173 

Christianity the True Philosophy 183 

Christianity the Purest Religion 193 

The Church and Creed of the First Century 205 

The One Baptism 214 



Part III.— POPULAR LECTURES. 

Science and the Bible 226 

Geology and Genesis 244 

The Sun and Christianity 253 

Science and the Liquor Traffic 266 

The Reciprocal Influence of the Mind and the Body 282 

The Real or Substantia], in the Forces of Nature, and in the Spirit- 
ual World 291 



CONTENTS. Vll. 

The Socratic Philosophy, and Christianity 303 

The Skeptical Tendencies of Philosophy 312 

Voltairo and Modern Infidelity 323 

The Highest Culture and Christianity 329 

The Destiny of the American Republic 339 



SKETCH AND DESCRIPTION FROM " PHREN- 
OLOGICAL JOURNAL," JUNE, 1887. 

Prof. Lowber was born in Nelson county, Ky., August 30, 1847. 
He is 5 feet 9^ inches high, weighs 178 pounds, and has a head meas- 
uring 23 inches in circumference. His early years were spent on a 
farm, and of necessity he handled the plow and hoe for sustenance ; but, 
from his boyhood he has been ambitious of intellectual and moral im- 
provement in all that tends to ennoble and elevate human nature. In 
addition to the ordinary books of the country school, others on art, 
science, philosophy and religion were sought after and their contents 
devoured with avidity ; so that, notwithstanding his inheritance of 
poverty, his large, active brain, sustained by an excellent physical 
constitution, enabled him soon to overcome every obstacle to his am- 
bition, and placed him in circumstances to enter systematically on a 
course of education. Much of the expense at college must be met by 
manual labor, but notwithstanding this his progress was rapid, so that, 
when only in the junior class, he was selected by the president of the 
college to teach a class in Greek, as the Greek professor had recom- 
mended him as the most thorough in that language of any student in 
the University. Indeed, he has made it a point to excel in every de- 
partment of study that he takes up. For months before his graduation 
he stood at the front in every study. In linguistic acquirements he 
has made much progress, having studied some seventeen different lan- 
guages, and is able to speak some of thein with considerable facility. 

Prof. Lowber is a graduate of Butler University, Indianapolis, 
Indiana, having taken there the degrees of B. A., and M. A. He is 
also a classical graduate of the College of the Bible, of Kentucky 
University. He studied as a post-graduate in a number of Eastern 
universities. In 1880 he passed the examination for the degree of 
Doctor of Philosophy, in Syracuse University. The examination lasted 
twenty-five hours, and his examiner, Dr. Bennett, thus speaks of him: 
"The examination was thorough, and revealed a thoroughness and 
comprehensiveness of scholarship which justly entities him to his high 
honor." 



X. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

Since completing his college studies he has spent some twelve 
years in the class-room as teacher, having held many positions from 
that of teacher in the public school up to president of a college; 
and while devoting himself mainly to the ministry, he has had several 
calls to the presidency of colleges, and is now frequently called on to 
deliver the annual address at some institution of learning. 

Prof. Lowber is also an ardent temperance advocate, and inter- 
ested in nearly all the temperance movements of the day, and his ad. 
dresses have been highly complimented. His reputation is such that 
he has been invited from England to enter the lecture-field and devote 
his time to the subject of temperance in that country. 

Though amply endowed by nature and education for varied pro- 
fessional pursuits, Prof. Lowber's chosen lifework is the Christian 
ministry. In his youth he became connected with the "Christian 
Church," or " Disciples," and, like the late President Garfield, retained 
his connection with that denomination. He has written much for re- 
ligious papers, having been co-editor and proprietor of the Apostolic 
Church, and since that periodical was consolidated with the Apostolic 
Guide, has been a member of the "Guide Publishing Company," and 
associate editor of that widely circulated weekly. His contributions 
are of a high order, and exhibit ready command of his educational 
resources. He is also one of the able contributors to the religio- 
scientific journal, the Scientific Arena, the organ of the Substantial 
Philosophy, edited by Dr. A Wilford Hall, its founder, who thus writes 
of his abilities : " He became an early contributor to the Microcosm, 
and his terse and elegantly written philosophical papers we are proud 
to point to still as among the finest specimens of logical reasoning to 
be found in these volumes." 

As a preacher, Prof. Lowber has met with marked success, both 
as evangelist and pastor. He was for several years pastor of a church 
in Scranton, Penn., and during his residence there became presdent of 
the Pennsylvania Christian Conference. He is now pastor of the First 
Christian Church of Paducah, Ky., one of the largest and wealthiest 
in the State, and is meeting with constant success in carrying forward 
the work so signally inaugurated by his late and distinguished prede- 
cessor, Elder George E. Flower. 

In the lecture field Prof. Lowber's success has been gratifying. 
He handles the subjects of art, poetry, philosophy and history with 
great facility, and his services in these directions are in frequent de- 
mand. .-Esthetics, as a department of philosophy, has for him many- 
charms. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XI. 

Mental science, as developed in the works of phrenologists, has 
been with Prof. Lowber an interesting and instructive study. Early 
in youth, Combe's work on the "Constitution of Man " fell into his 
hands, of which he says : " It has had a wonderful influence on my life • 
it is one of the best works in the language." He has always accepted 
and advocated the doctrines of Phrenology, and, when resident in the 
city of Louisville, Ky., was president of a scientific society, in which 
the advancement of this science was a leading characteristic. He 
thinks Phrenology should be taught in all our schools. 

He has taken much interest in the Chautauqua movement from 
the beginning, and will probably be graduated this year with six seals, 
expecting in a few years to reach the highest order. He is also a 
member of the American Institute of Christian Philosophy, and is 
keeping up with its work. In all these departments of study and work 
everything is so systematized that he has no trouble with their prosecu- 
tion. His addresses are generally published, and frequently copied 
into a number of papers. M. c. T. 

PORTRAIT. 

This portrait has some marked indications; the first of which we 
will note is health, bodily vigor, vital power, working force, a strong 
hold on life and a willingness to put forth effort. The brain is broad 
at the base, showing courage, enterprise, force of character, economy, 
self-control and prudence, and the ability to cut his bigness and work 
his way without help where earnest duty and hard work are required. 
As a boy he used to play with heavy things, and to struggle with boys 
larger than himself; he has a relish for overcoming, for meeting and 
mastering that which requires to be treated with manly energy and 
courage. 

That is a regular soldier's nose, and see how the face backs it up, 
the broad cheek bone and breadth of head running backward from the 
cheek bone ; such development is always related to a large chest and 
that kind of physical development and enterprise which seeks to exer- 
cise itself. 

He would like argument as a lawyer or legislator : he would like 
large business in the field of industrial effort; he enjoys the sight and 
sale of heavy machinery and whatever of apparatus is related to large 
results and heavy work. He may appreciate that which is nice and 
fine, such as watch work and delicate machinery, but nothing stirs his 
manhood so much in things physical and tangible as mighty machin- 
ery and apparatus that can lift heavy weights. A derrick that could 



Xii. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

swing a locomotive and carefully let it down into a hold of a ship would 
feed certain factors in his mentality, and he would delay his dinner till 
it got cold to see such great work done. Now, whatever he has of 
morality, intelligence, ambition or enterprise, is backed up by these 
elements of earnest force which lead him to laugh at difficulties and to 
mock at impediments. 

His intellect is clear and sharp and well-poised; gathering his 

own facts, he is always sure of his premises, and from these he reasons 
logically, clearly and directly. He is not mythical or mystical ; he 
has a wonderful faculty of making complications seem open and clear. 
His Language is full and rich, but pertinent and direct, and he must 
have a peculiar grip in his statements. 

He has a cordial sympathy, affection and friendship, combined 
with a good degree of Agreeableness and refinement; consequently 
his relations to society are pleasant and mellow ; but people soon learn 
that he has executive ability, and that he backs up his influence with 
his plans and exertions, and will have a leading place in the field of 
endeavor. Pie is anxious to please ; is willing to serve ; is capable of 
governing ; consequently he will wield influence like an elder brother, 
making himself, in a certain sense, servant of all and yet master of all. 

His intellect is like his mother's, intuitive, ready, prompt and 
practical. He has mechanical talent and artistic taste, and these would 
aid him in thinking and stating his thoughts; he would get more matter 
on a page, would weave in particulars so that they would seem consecu- 
tive and methodical and natural, and yet get as much of history and fact 
on one page as many a good writer would get on three ; consequently 
in his intellectual work, sustained, urged and emphasized as it must 
be by his force of character, will always carry influence which will 
seem to be final. If he were a lawyer, he would be remarkable for 
condensing a whole case into a few curt and terse sentences; and Lis 
summing up would be influential, and would seem to supplement and 
supersede whatever had been said and clone before. 

He has strong Reverence and Spirituality ; he has hopefulness and 
enthusiasm. People who meet him and hear his thought and state- 
ment, will have a feeling that the subject is stated plausibly, and the 
probabilities of desired results will be very decided. If he were edu- 
cated for it by training and experience, he would make a good chairman 
of a Committee of Ways and Means in a legislative body ; he would 
provide for every objection and prepare for every emergency, and 
though he has a world of force he has a great deal of good humor and 
mellowness and pleasantness in his manner. He can say" No," which 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. Xlll, 

will be very decided and not yet abrupt ; it will be uttered in a way 
that will not wound and hurt, and seem to be uttered from the necessi- 
ties of the case. If he were a judge on the bench, his charges would 
be so fair and reasonable that he would not show partisanship ; he 
would be considered just and reasonable. 

He is well qualified to make friends, because he can treat those 
that he disagrees with, in a way that will not alienate them personally. 
He is a natural teacher, and capable of being master of people and of 
affairs, and as a boy he was always a leader and yet not autocratic ; he 
governs by way of suggestion, and yet the suggestions are so reasonable 
and are stated with such apparent fairness, that both sides will cooperate 
and accept his view of the case. 

He is a natural student ; would excel in science, in languages, and 
literature, and will carry in his memory whatever he may acquire in the 
line of scholarship, and utter it in a way that will show that he under- 
stands his position and knows how to state it admirably. N. s. 



DESCRIPTION BY O. S. FOWLER. 

"Your organism, sir, is unur.ually pronounced throughout. Your 
traits of character are distinctive : faults and virtues standing out in 
bold relief, but virtues predominating. Your brain is unusually large, 
and supported by one of the best of bodies, whilst your temperament 
is unusually ardent ; this renders you impetuous, impulsive, whole- 
souled, earnest, emphatic in everything ; positive in your likes and 
dislikes ; both your friends and enemies pronounced, though you have 
many more friends than enemies. You carry everything to an undue 
extreme. Should guard against this tendency to excess. Need har- 
mony. Should cultivate deliberation, and especially should avoid 
every cause of physical excitement. Must not take spirituous or malt 
liquors, nor tobacco, and had better not take coffee, because too excit- 
able without. Should wash all over every day in cold water, so as to 
take off this excitability through your skin. Should eat but lightly, 
for two reasons : one, because your good stomach makes a good use of 
what you do eat ; and because you are surcharged with aliment. Try 
lightening your diet, and you will find your mind as clear again. 

"You have one all-controlling faculty, namely, the greatest possi- 
ble desire to know the causes and reasons of things ; one real talent, 
almost genius, namely, ability to spell out results and find out philoso- 
phies of things, and go down as deeply into natural causes and facts 
as anybody. You also lay good plans, and work up whatever materials 
are available to the best advantage. Yours is a deep, original, com- 
prehensive, even profound, intellect, and your reasoning organs are 
sharp, which signifies their extreme exercise during the last few years. 
You have a perpetual flow of new thought ; have a highly suggestive 
mind, besides being argumentative. Have an intellect well balanced 
up ; add facts to philosophy ; love to try experiments, and acquire 
knowledge ; remember all you learn, and spell out of things all there 
is in them. You are remarkably quick and correct in reading men, 
and from little signs that others would not notice. You also make 
nice discriminations, and excel in putting this and that together. You 
employ words in their precise signification, and are a natural philolo- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XV. 

gist. You always go clear back to the primal meaning of words, and 
make yourself completely understood, besides being impressive. You 
have a glowing imagination, but reason predominates. You appre- 
ciate the beautiful in nature, and love to embellish, but love the useful 
most. You have two serious faults ; in fact, three : one is to distrust 
you own abilities. You never thought yourself the man you actually 
are. You under-rate yourself in proportion to the hollow, but over- 
rate the good opinion of others in proportion to the swell on each 
i,ide ; so think more of yourself, and less of what others think of 
you. You were brought up too strictly. You are too apt to con- 
demn yourself, and feel both guilty and ashamed when you are 
neither. No more of either. Your other fault is hopelessness ; 
you never see the bright, only the darker prospects before you, 
and always have been and will be twice as successful as you ex- 
pect; so launch out accordingly. You are more your mother's 
son than your father's. Have inherited from her and her father an 
extreme longevity ; equal to eighty-five ; a large brain ; a first- 
class body ; a most enthusiastic and enthusing temperament, and the 
highest order of intellect and morals. Thank and love her accord- 
ingly. Have but little love of money, as such ; want it chiefly for its 
uses ; spend it too freely ; almost need a guardian ; at least should 
wait till next day before you make any important purchases, and learn 
to save up and use your money more in a body, whereas now it goes 
in driblets ; nor have you any financiering knack. You should marry 
a woman who is extra frugal; one who appreciates you, and one who 
puts you up to appreciate yourself ; one full of hope, so as to encour- 
age and sustain you ; one frank and unsuspecting ; you could not love 
a tricky woman ; one dark-haired, weighing not over one hundred and 
twenty; one exquisitely neat and refined, whose love is more Platonic 
than physical ; demonstrative, but not argumentative ; harmonious, 
and to you what balance wheel is to machinery. 

" You are adapted to make an extra good husband. Are quite- 
hearty in your friendships. Are remarkably versatile in your talents. 
You incline to do and learn a little of many things, rather than much 
of any one thing ; nor need you confine yourself to a single line of 
business or study. Have three all-controlling mental factors — love of 
philosophy, love of writing and truth, and love of man. Are a 
natural theologian ; but appreciate natural theology tenfold more than 
didactic. Care but little about creeds. Do your own thinking, and 
all of it. Love the higher mathematics much better than mere arith- 
metic. Are polite and agreeable. Are a great lover of nature, and 



XVI. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

calculated to be a conspicuous man among men. You set all around you 
to thinking, because yourself so incessant a thinker. You are not half 
appreciated, nor do you half appreciate yourself. Will be prized and 
praised in proportion as you are known. Your last days will be your 
best." 



THE STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS 
OF THE CHURCH. 



CHAPTER I. 

PREPARATION OF THE WORLD FOR THE INTRODUCTION 

OF CHRISTIANITY. 

In the early history of the world, men were gov- 
erned by patriarchal institutions. The individual was 
free and the home was pure. Monotheism was the 
religion of all, and monogamy was almost universally 
practiced. This accounts for the fact that monotheism 
and monogamy lie back of the polytheism and po- 
lygamy of the nations of the past. 

As the world advanced, especially in wickedness, 
there was a tendency to centralization on the part of 
different tribes. Nations arose, and the different 
departments of government were in time united in 
the hands of a despot. One of the first nations was 
the Egyptian. Long before Carthage, Greece or Rome 
was known, Egypt was in a high state of civilization. 
Her monuments are evidence of her skill, and the won- 
der and astonishment of the world. Her greatness was 
builded upon the destruction of individualism, and her 
monuments were erected by a people crushed be- 
neath the feet of ruthless tyrants. In God's provi- 



2 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

dence, however, good was brought out of evil, or 
rather evil was so overruled as to advance the cause of 
civilization. While Egypt became a complete despot- 
ism and an apostate nation, she still had much to do in 
preparing the world for Christianity. Joseph went into 
Egypt, and became viceroy of that powerful kingdom, 
honored for his fidelity to the one true God. True relig- 
ion was long taught in the esoteric schools of Egypt. 
Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, 
and was in this way better qualified for the great work 
before him. It is difficult to tell to what extent the Jew 
ish nation was indebted to Egypt for the high civiliza- 
tion of Palestine. 

The first universal empire of the world was the 
Babylonian. Abraham was called from the East when 
the centralizing and apostatizing tendency which re- 
sulted in this gigantic despotism commenced. More 
than five hundred years b. c. Jerusalem was captured by 
Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon's greatest king, and the Jews 
were carried into captivity. It iooked like a great mis- 
fortune to God's chosen people, but it was the means 
of disseminating the monotheistic belief of Israel in all 
directions. Daniel's position at the court of Babylon 
would certainly call the attention of all the then civil- 
ized nations to his religious belief. It was. doubtless, 
through his influence that Cyrus was induced to restore 
the Jews to their native country. Daniel had inter- 
preted the writing on the wall, and had predicted the 
capture of Babylon by the Medes and Persians. The 
Babylonian rulers had so far apostatized and had become 
so sacreligious that civilization demanded their removal. 
The last of the Chaldean kings was feasting with his 
wives and nobles on the fatal night of Babylon's capture. 



PREPARATION OF THE WORLD. 3 

The Persians entered the city through the bed of the 
river Euphrates, under the walls, and found the inner 
gates open and unguarded. Thus ended the Babylonian 
kingdom, and began the Persian. 

Cyrus the Persian had already extended his king- 
dom over the greater part of Asia Minor. The Babylo- 
nian king had formed an alliance with Croesus, the 
famous rich king of Lydia. This monarch, inflated 
with his wealth, and having an army of nearly half 
a million, decided to encounter the Persian power. 
Before doing so, however, he consulted the oracle at 
Delphi, and obtained the following answer : "If Croesus 
pass the Halys, " the boundary between Lydia and 
Persia, "he shall destroy a great empire." He found 
when it was too late that that empire was his own. He 
had previously become offended at Solon for not calling 
him the happiest of men, but when about to be burned 
by Cyrus, the use of the name Solon saved his life. 
The conquest of Lydia brought the Persians into col- 
lision with the Greeks, the result of which we will men- 
tion hereafter. 

When the Persians became masters of the world, 
the ruling power of the nations passed from the Semitic 
tq the Indo-European race. The descendants of Ja- 
pheth, however, are being prepared for conquest by a 
religion which is to be promulgated by the descend- 
ants of Shem. It was the first year of the reign of 
Cyrus, soon after the capture of Babylon, that the king 
issued his decree for the restoration of the Jews. That 
was one of the greatest events in the history of the 
Jewish nation. It is not difficult to see the finger of 
God in the association of this people with the nations 
of the world. They did not live seventy years in 



4 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

Babylonia, Media and Persia for nothing. They seem 
to have been treated by the Oriental nations with much 
respect, and they must have made a profound religious 
impression. One reason for this seems to have been 
the similarity of the Persian faith and the religion of the 
Jews. The Persians, like the Arabians, had not so far 
declined from patriarchal institutions as those nations 
that had wandered farthest from the paternal home of 
the race. 

It is supposed that the great reformer, Zoroaster, 
made his appearance during the sojourn of the Jews 
in the East. Some authorities, however, think that he 
lived much earlier. This is not an important point, for at 
whatever time he may havelived, his monotheisticbelief 
must have had a great influence upon the Persian em- 
pire. Cyrus was certainly educated in the doctrine of 
Zoroaster, and it is not difficult to see a reason for his 
extraordinary partiality for Judaism. His successors 
were educated by the Magi, the teachers of the religion 
of Zoroaster, and whatever may have been their faults, 
they intensely hated idolatry. Cambyses, the son of 
Cyrus, was a madman and a tyrant, but he has com- 
manded some respect from historians on account of his 
zeal against idolatry. His indignation was great when 
he saw an Egyptian worship a brute. The only sym- 
pathy the Christian can have with the mighty armies 
that Darius and Xerxes poured into Europe is because 
of their determination to destroy idolatry. Thus it is 
that mind rules, after all ; for the Persian kings, in sub- 
jugating the remotest lands, were only carrying out the 
religious ideas matured by Zoroaster in his cave. 

The Persian faith has, therefore, done much in 
preparing the world for Christianity. It is thought by 



PREPARATION OF THE WORLD. 5 

some that we have derived the doctrine of a resurrec- 
tion from the dead for ultimate judgment, from 
Zoroaster, through the Jews. If this be true, it does 
not condemn the doctrine, for Zoroaster held to a great 
deal of truth. He, like Confucius, the great Chinese 
reformer, recognized one greater than himself, who 
should come after him ; for when Jesus was born in 
Bethlehem of Judea, his disciples were guided by a 
star to Bethlehem, where they found "the true light of 
the world," for which they had long been searching. 
The Persian religion, though ethnic, was a preparation 
for Christianity, the religion of all races. 

We have already seen where the Persian empire 
came in contact with Greece. The burning of Sardis 
by the Greeks so exasperated Darius, king of Persia, 
that he determined to invade Greece with a powerful 
army. For fear that he might forget the insults offered 
him by the presumptuous republics of Greece, he ap- 
pointed an officer to repeat to him every day as he 
dined: "Sir, remember the Athenians." He soon 
collected an army which he supposed would crush that 
small country at a blow, but he was greatly disap- 
pointed. The army that had borne conquest upon its 
banners from the Euphrates to the Nile, was defeated 
by a small Greek army upon the plains of Marathon. 
While engaged in collecting a still larger army, Darius 
died, and left the prosecution of the Greek war to his 
son, Xerxes. He collected the most gigantic army 
that had ever trod the earth, and felt fully assured of 
victory. Just before his passage into Europe, at the 
straits of the Dardanelles, where his land and naval 
forces were collected, it is said that when Xerxes looked 
down from an eminence upon his vast army, he first 



6 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

congratulated himself as happy, and then burst into 
tears. He thought that in one hundred years from 
that time not one in that great army would be alive. 
Well might he weep, for his army was soon destroyed 
by the victorious and indignant Greeks. Leonidas, 
with his three hundred brave Spartans at the pass of 
Thermopylae, Themistocles with his ships at the straits 
of Salamis, soon taught him that Europe had a nobler 
destiny than to repeat the dead formulas of Oriental 
despotism. 

The success of the Greeks against the Persians 
shows the benefits of a free government to a people. 
A mere handful of true patriots were able to drive back 
millions of the sons of Oriental luxury and the spirit- 
less automata of despotism. Indeed, momentous 
changes hung upon this conflict. If Persia had suc- 
ceeded, all Europe would have been placed under a 
despotic government. At that time the Greeks were 
the only people strong enough to drive back the 
Oriental horde. That beautiful country, laved by the 
crystal waters of the yEgean sea, and rapidly becom- 
ing the university of the world, would have been com- 
pletely crushed if Xerxes had succeeded in his cam- 
paign. Despotism would have taken the place of 
liberty, and polygamy, the nurse of despotism and the 
eternal bar to all social progress, would have been 
established in Europe. Such, however, was not to be 
the case ; for God has established the times before 
appointed and the bounds of the habitations of the 
nations. Persia had accomplished her mission, and it 
was necessary for her to give way before a people of a 
higher civilization. 

The rivalry between the different States of Greece 



PREPARATION OF THE WORLD. J 

enabled Philip of Macedon to triumph over the liber- 
ties of that wonderful race. He always strengthened 
the weaker party, and was enabled at last to have him- 
self proclaimed generalissimo of all Greece. His object 
was the conquest of Persia, the ancient enemy of the 
Greeks. The superiority of Greek valor over Oriental 
arms was shown in the famous retreat of the Ten 
Thousand. This caused the very Grecian name to fill 
the world with fame, and the Greeks soon began to 
entertain hope of Eastern conquest. At the time that 
Philip was preparing to invade the Persian empire, he 
fell by the hand of an assassin, leaving his kingdom to 
his son Alexander, who was only twenty years of age. 
This happened nearly three hundred and fifty years 
before Christ, and it may be considered one of the 
great epochs in the history of the world. 

A man was now introduced upon the stage who, by 
his ability as conqueror and statesman, did more to 
shape the future destiny of mankind than any other unin- 
spired man that has ever lived. His influence upon 
the progress of civilization was much greater than that 
of either Caesar or Napoleon. He certainly was ani- 
mated by personal ambition in what he did, but God so 
overruled his actions as to make them of lasting benefit 
to mankind. His natural endowments were of a supe- 
rior order, and he was educated by one of the greatest 
minds that has ever lived. When he entered Asia as a 
conqueror, he had the sword in one hand and the poems 
of Homer in the other. He was not only a conqueror, 
but also a missionary of Grecian learning, art and civ- 
ilization. Wherever he went, Greece went with him ; 
and his conquests were no more those of Macedonian 
arms than of Grecian letters. He carried with him the 



8 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

genius of Homer, the philosophic wisdom of Plato, the 
wonderful knowledge of Aristotle, and the practical 
wisdom of Socrates. He entered Asia with thirty-five 
thousand men, and in a period of twelve years he con- 
quered the Persian empire, and many other nations that 
had never bowed to the Persian yoke. He carried 
Grecian manners and the Greek language to the Indus, 
and was the instrument in God's hands of making the 
Greek the universal language. Palestine, of course, 
became a part of this empire, and the Greek language 
was introduced into the Holy Land. 

It was believed by the Christian fathers that Greek 
philosophy was a school-master to lead the nations to 
Christ. The fact that it purified the Theistic idea, and 
lifted humanity up in the direction of divinity can not 
be questioned. The universal spread of civilization 
could not do otherwise than prepare the world for a uni- 
versal religion. A universal religion must have a uni- 
versal instrument for its dissemination. If the New 
Testament had been written in Hebrew, Christianity 
would necessarily have been confined within narrow 
bounds. The translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into 
Greek, more than two hundred and fifty years before 
Christ, opened Hebrew theology to the Gentile world, 
and this was certainly a very important preparation for 
Christianity. The student of the philosophy of history 
can readily see the finger of God in the preparation of 
natural means for the dissemination of that religion de- 
signed to become the religion of all races. 

The power of which we read so much in the New 
Testament was Rome, and this gigantic power did 
much towards preparing the world for a new era. The 
most terrible thing that ever trod the earth was a Ro- 



PREPARATION OF THE WORLD. 9 

man army. It was a great human machine, designed 
for the subjugation of the world, shielded from assault 
by an almost impenetrable armor, and it possessed a 
courage which was most at home when in the midst of 
battle. When we study carefully the character of a 
Roman army we are not surprised that it carried con- 
quest from the sands of Africa to the borders of Scot- 
land, and from the Straits of Gibraltar to the sands 
of the Arabian desert. 

At the early age of seventeen every Roman citizen 
was liable to be enrolled in the army. When he en- 
tered the camp, he was subjected to a discipline, which 
appears in this age almost incredible. He wore a shield 
of sufficient size to cover his whole body, and it was 
so thick that arrows, swords and spears could not pen- 
etrate it. He also had a breastplate to protect the heart 
and lungs, a helmet for the head, and boots for the de- 
fense of the feet and legs. He was well provided with 
aggressive armor, and always carried his sharp two- 
edged sword. He was a sublime object to look upon, 
and one calculated to strike terror to the heart of an 
enemy. The Romans were five hundred years in com- 
pleting the conquest of Italy, and in two hundred more 
they became masters of the earth. About sixty years 
before the coming of Christ, Pompey the Great con- 
quered Palestine, and the Roman legions planted their 
standard upon the ramparts of the temple. Nearly fifty 
years before the Christian era, Julius Caesar subjugated 
the liberties of his country, and put an end to the Ro- 
man republic. He was assassinated, but his party tri- 
umphed, and thirty years b. c. Augustus Caesar was ruler 
of the whole civilized world. Rome had accomplished 
her work with great perfection, and at the coming of 



IO STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

Christ the world was a unit under one great central 
power. The barriers between the nations were broken 
down, and a traveler might pursue his way unmolested 
from the British Isles to Ethiopia, and from the Atlantic 
Ocean to the river Euphrates. This was an important 
preparation for Christianity, for the world could not 
have been evangelized until Rome unified the nations. 
The w r orld was at peace, for Rome had no enemy with 
which to fight. This was a suitable time for the Prince 
of Peace to be introduced into this world, who brought 
peace to earth and good-will among men. This period 
is thus beautifully described by the greatest of English 
poets: 

" No war, or battle's sound 

Was heard the world around, 
The idle spear and shield were high uphung ; 

The hooked chariot stood, 

Unstained with hostile blood, 
The trumpet spake not to the armed throng; 

But peaceful was the night 
Wherein the Prince of Light 
His reign of peace upon the earth began." 

Rome was the only nation, in ancient times, that 
was able to retain and consolidate her conquests. She 
conquered the world like a savage, but ruled it like a 
sage. She gave civil law to the nations, and prepared 
for them a government exactly suited to their barbarous 
condition. Roman law, from the very first, was founded 
upon justice, and Cicero, in his treatise on the laws, 
devotes his first book to the establishing of eternal jus- 
tice as the basis of all jurisprudence. Christianity, 
which recognizes the truth wherever found, accepted 
Roman jurisprudence and infused a new life into Roman 
law. Roman law itself was an important preparation 



PREPARATION OF THE WORLD. II 

for the evangelization of the world by the apostles of 
Christ. 

In the days of Abraham the nations were largely 
departing from that knowledge which God had originally 
imparted to the race. The patriarch was called and a 
land was selected where his posterity were to specially 
develop the monotheistic idea. Palestine was exactly 
suited to that purpose, as it was separated from idola- 
trous nations. It was a small country, only one hun- 
dred and forty miles in length and forty miles in width, 
and well suited to develop a unique civilization. Its 
conquest by the great kingdoms of the world enabled 
the Israelites to teach monotheism to the great nations 
of the earth. Daniel, in Babylon, taught the civilized 
world the importance of worshiping the one true God. 
Judaism was then a school-master to lead the nations 
to Christ. Wherever the apostles went they found that 
the Jews had prepared for them the way. As they 
traveled from city to city, they preached first to the 
Jew and then to the Gentile. While Judaism was too 
intolerant to convert the world to monotheism, it pre- 
pared the way for its conversion by a religion of a more 
universal character. Its influence was such that the 
nations were expecting a great deliverer about the time 
that Jesus was born at Bethlehem. Virgil at Rome had 
caught the echo, and the East actually sent its sages to 
visit the new-born babe at Bethlehem. A poet ex- 
presses in the following language the longings of the 
human heart : 

" From Jesse's root behold a branch shall rise, 
Whose sacred fiower with fragrance fills the skies; 
The ethereal Spirit o'er its leaves shall move, 
And on its top descends the mystic Dove. 



1-2 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

Ye heavens, from h:gh the dewy nectar pour, 
And in soft silence shed the kindly shower, 
The sick, the weak, the healing plant shall aid, 
From storms a shelter and from heat a shade. 
The Saviour comes, by ancient bards foretold, 
Hear Him, ye deaf, and all ye blind behold. 
He from thick films shall purge the visual ray, 
And on the sightless eyeball pour the day; 
'T is He the obstructed paths of sound shall clear, 
And bid new music charm the unfolding ear. 
No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear, 
From every face he wipes off every tear. 
In adamantine chains shall death be bound, 
And hell's grim tryant feel the eternal wound. 
Rise, crowned w ith light, imperial Salem, rise, 
Exalt thy towery head and lift thine eyes ; 
See, a long race thy spacious courts adorn, 
See, future sons and daughters yet unborn. 
In crowding ranks on every side arise, 
Demanding life, impatient for the skies. 
See, barbarous nations at thy gates attend, 
^'alk in thy light, and in chy temple bend." 



CHAPTER II. 

THE CONFLICT BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM, 

So many persons identify the Jewish religion and 
Christianity, that it is difficult to look upon Judaism as 
one of the great national religions of the past. While 
it did more to prepare the world for Christianity than 
did any other religion, it was certainly as much the re- 
ligion of a nation as any of the other great ethnic 
religions of the world. It is a great mistake that many 
eminent ministers are making, in preaching a modi- 
fied Judaism instead of Christianity. 

The skeptic, M. Renan, claims that the monotheism 
of the Hebrews was the result of such a tendency on 
the part of the whole Semitic race. In this he is cer- 
tainly mistaken, for we find a tendency to idolatry on 
the part of Semitic races as well as on the part of 
the Japhetic races. There was a lingering monotheism 
back of the polytheism of all the great Indo-European 
races. Prof. Max Muller, the greatest of philologists, 
claims that the monotheism of the Hebrews was the 
result of a special revelation to Abraham. It is a sig- 
nificant fact among the Hebrews that every Jew is a 

13 



14 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

child of Abraham. Christ did not preach of a new 
God, but of the God of Abraham. 

Those who claim that Abraham was a mythical 
character are certainly destitute of the historic sense. 
They belong to the school of those who deny the per- 
sonality of Shakespeare and of Homer. The personality 
of Abraham definitely impresses itself upon all persons 
who are impartial students of history. Abraham re- 
versed the historic tendency of his day, and, instead 
of losing - sight of the one true God for polytheistic no- 
tions, he parted forever with polytheism, and emphasized 
the monotheistic idea. He found the king of Salem 
and others similar in belief to himself. Abraham was 
a great Bedouin sheik, and at the head of the Patriarchal 
dispensation of the Old Testament. His religion was 
a family religion, and preparatory to the national re- 
ligion of the Hebrews. 

In the progressive development of mankind, religion 
becomes national instead of tribal. Jehovah becomes 
the God of the Hebrew race, instead of simply being 
the God of Abraham's tribe. Moses, the Hebrew law- 
giver, was educated in Egypt, the most distinguished 
country in the world at that time. It was necessary 
for the Israelites to go into Egypt in order to learn 
civil government, and be prepared for their great work 
as a nation. The forty years that Moses spent in 
Egypt, in the closest relations to the priesthood, pre- 
pared him for his great mission in life as he could have 
been prepared nowhere else. He had teachers be- 
longing to the same school where, Plato, Pythagoras and 
Herodotus studied. If Israel had not gone into the 
land of Egypt, but had wandered as a tribe in Palestine, 



CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM. 1 5 

the most remarkable nation in the world would, doubt- 
less, have had no existence. 

Monotheism was the foundation principle of the 
Mosaic law. Among other nations the Supreme 
Being was not an object of worship, but had receded 
into the background, and subordinate deities were the 
objects of reverence. Moses taught that the God who 
made the heavens and earth was the only object of 
worship. He also taught the spirituality and unity of 
God, and forbade the making of any statue as His 
image. The Hebrew prophets were true to the 
Mosaic law, but they rose to the sublime height 
of looking upon God as a personal friend, and to the 
conception of a universal and a spiritual kingdom. 
Moses had predicted the coming of a prophet like unto 
himself, who would be a lawgiver, and should be 
obeyed ; but with the prophets this lawgiver would be 
a king upon David's throne, and at the head of a uni- 
versal kingdom. Their predictions of the Messiah 
were remarkable, for they went beyond the narrow 
bounds of Judaism, and partook of the spirit of Chris- 
tianity. They predicted the new covenant that should 
be established and the new law that should be pro- 
claimed from the city of David. 

Before the Babylonish captivity there was a ten- 
dency on the part of the Jews to go into idolatry, but 
the captivity seems to have cured them entirely of this 
tendency. While in Babylon, they did much towards 
teaching the nations monotheism, and the captivity also 
did much for them in showing the great superiority of 
their religion to the religious beliefs of the surrounding 
nations. It was for national sins that the Jews went 
into captivity, and never did a people suffer more than 



l6 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

did they. The one hundred and thirty-seventh Psalm 
gives a pathetic description of their condition in 
Babylon : 

They humbly sat by these rivers, 

And, with weeping eyes, 

Hanged their harps upon the willows ; 

And, with broken hearts, 

They listened to Babylon's throngs, 

Saying, sing us one of Zion's songs. 

It was difficult for them to sing, 

For a Hebrew's voice would not ring 

In so strange a land. 

The Jews never lost hope of a final restoration from 
captivity. The confidence of Jeremiah and Ezekiel 
was such that they were ever ready to encourage their 
despondent brethren. Cyrus, the great Persian, to 
whom this work was assigned, was now ready to prose- 
cute it. He had united Persia, India, Babylonia and 
Chaldaea, in one great empire, known as the Persian 
empire ; so that a decree from him would be carried 
out with vigor. God recognized Cyrus as a shepherd 
of his people, and promised to stand by him in his 
work (Isa. xliv. 27, 28). 

In the first year of Cyrus' reign over the world's 
great empire, he issued a proclaimation for the rebuild- 
ing of the temple in Jerusalem. This was in the year 
536 b. c. Jewish tradition claims that Daniel, who 
held a high position at the court of Cyrus, called the 
attention of the king to the prophecies of Isaiah, which 
called him by name, and stated that Jerusalem and the 
temple should be rebuilt. It is claimed by some that 
Cyrus, in the Persian language, signifies sun, and they 
make him a type of the Sun of Righteousness. Others 
think that his name denotes father, and they make him 



CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM. IJ 

a type of the everlasting Father. These things indi^ 
cate that religion is soon to progress beyond the narrow 
bounds of Judaism. 

There was great joy when the foundations of the 
temple were laid. When they were by the cold waters 
of Babylon, they felt like hanging their harps on the 
willows ; but when restoration came, and the rebuild- 
ing of the temple commenced, then came with shouting 
and great joy. While the songs of Zion gladdened the 
hearts of the returned Israelites, there were some 
among them who wept bitterly. Those who had seen 
the first temple, wept when they remembered its su- 
periority to the new one. The prophet Haggai en- 
couraged the weeping Jews by assuring them that the 
glory of the second temple would eclipse that of the 
first. Truly did it eclipse it by the reception of a 
prophet who gave a law which towered far above the 
narrow bounds of Jewish ritualism. 

The captivity entirely cured the Jews of idolatry, 
and after their return there was quite an opposite ten- 
dency on their part. They studied the twenty-eighth 
chapter of Deuteronomy as they had never before 
studied it. They were so smitten to the heart by the 
fulfillment of these awful threatenings, that all pro- 
pensity to idolatry was forever cured. After this period 
no dens of lions, no fiery furnace, or lingering torture, 
could induce them to sacrifice to idol gods. The same 
Providence that had scattered them, had restored them 
to their native land. After the temple was rebuilt, the 
daily sacrifice was never omitted, except three years 
under Antiochus Epiphanes, till the coming of that 
great Prophet who was himself greater than the tem- 
ple. He came not as the legislator of a nation, but as 



1 8 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

the Light of the world. He declared that worship 
should no longer be confined to Mount Gerizim or to 
Jerusalem, or to any other particular spot ; but that 
the true lovers of God, among all nations, should wor- 
ship Him in spirit and in truth. 

The hatred that was engendered between the Jews 
and Samaritans at the rebuilding of the temple con- 
tinued to grow in intensity. With the Jew, every 
Samaritan had a demon. The remembrance of the 
captivity also caused them to hate every Gentile, and 
they became extremely narrow. The persecution of 
Antiochus Epiphanes called forth a glorious resistance, 
headed by Judas Maccabaeus ; and it resulted in the es- 
tablishment of the Maccabaean or Asmonaean dynasty. 
Judas was a great hero, and was to Palestine what 
Alfred was to England, Bruce to Scotland, and Tell to 
Switzerland. This conflict tended to secularize the 
Jewish idea of the Messiah, and cause them to look for 
a great military ruler. They had made void the word 
of God by their traditions, and when Jesus came, they 
were divided into the following conflicting sects : 

First — The Scribes and Pharisees. 

The Scribes were the transcribers of the law, and 
had become numerous and powerful at the beginning 
of the Christian era. They generally belonged to the 
sect of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the most 
numerous and influential of all the parties among the 
Jews. They considered themselves the orthodox, and 
all the rest heretics. Pride, self-conceit and formality 
were the great sins of which they were specially guilty. 
They thanked God that they were not like other peo- 
gle ; that they paid their dues ; that they fasted and 
said their prayers ; and especially were they grateful 



CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM. I Q 

for unlikeness to the Publicans. The Pharisees were 
hypocrites. When they came to John's baptism, he 
called them a generation of vipers, and Jesus said they 
-could not escape the damnation of hell. This bigoted 
sect had so blinded their eyes and stopped their ears 
with tradition, that they could not see the marvelous 
light which had dawned upon the world, nor hear the 
glad tidings sung by angels at the birth of Christ. 

Second. — The Sadducees and Herodians. 

The Sadducees were skeptics; they rejected the 
Bible, with the exception of the Pentateuch. They 
were materialists, and did not believe in the doctrine of 
the resurrection. Their belief was very similar to that 
of the Epicurean philosophers, and they employed 
nearly every argument in favor of their position that is 
now used in support of modern materialism. The 
question which they put to Jesus, in regard to the 
woman with seven husbands, they considered unan- 
swerable. In order to its refutation, he had only to 
teach them the true spiritual character of the future 
state. Their political ideas were all adverse to a proper 
conception of the true character of the Messiah. The 
Herodians were the partisans of Herod, and generally 
belonged to the sect of the Sadducees. After the bat- 
tle of Philippi, b. c. 42, the Jews were governed by 
the heathen Romans, through the Idumean Herod. 
He introduced the Olympic games into Judaea, and did 
all that he could to assimilate Judaism to the character 
of Grasco-Roman civilization. Many of the skeptical 
Sadducees heartily sympathized with this idea. 

Third. — Essenes and Therapeut^e. 

The Essenes were philosophical mystics. They 
combined Judaism with Pythagoreanism, Platonism 



20 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

and Oriental Theosophy. They lived in monkish se- 
clusion, near the Dead Sea, and seldom came in con- 
tact with Christ or his apostles. Those who claim that 
Christ derived his doctrine from that of the Essenes, 
certainly do not understand either the character of 
Christ or that of the Essenes. The Essenes were a 
class of Jews tired of the world, and entirely separated 
from society ; Jesus went about doing good, and freely 
mingled with the people. The Essenes had no sympa- 
thy with mankind in general, but Jesus was full of the 
missionary spirit. The Therapeutae resided in Alexan- 
dria, in Egypt ; they were very similar to the Essenes 
in belief, and adopted an allegorical style in interpret- 
ing the Bible. They endeavored to harmonize Judaism 
and Platonism. There is a class of skeptics who main- 
tain that Christ was a mythical character, originated by 
the disciples. It must be remembered that when the 
disciples were first called they were simply illiterate 
Jewish fishermen. They, of course, had the prejudices 
peculiar to the Jewish nation. To insist that they in- 
vented Christianity, presents to the world as great a 
miracle as to admit the true historic origin of the New 
Testament and Christianity. There must be an original 
from which the portrait was taken ; and that can not be 
found this side of heaven. 

Both the Pharisees and Sadducees united in oppos- 
ing Christ during his public ministry ; but the Pharisees 
were the more bitter. Jesus did not harmonize with 
their secular ideas of the Messiah, and they were de- 
termined to secure his death. They brought against 
him false charges, which the heathen governor knew to 
be untrue, and so pronounced him innocent. By threat- 
ening him with Caesar, they finally got the consent of 



CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM. 21 

the governor for the execution of Jesus ; but this pagan 
ruler tried to wash all guilt from his hands, and place 
the entire responsibility upon the Jews. They asked 
for his blood to be on them and their children, and terri- 
bly have they suffered for thus rejecting the innocent. 

Is it true, 

O stubborn Jew, 

God did send 

Thee a friend, 

Whom thou didst reject? 

The Jews remembered that Jesus had predicted his 
own resurrection ; so they obtained from Pilate a Ro- 
man guard, that the sepulcher might be entirely secure. 
They considered themselves entirely triumphant, and 
did not think that their conscience would again be dis- 
turbed by the Galilean teacher. How greatly must they 
have been shocked, when the body was gone, and 
could not be accounted for on any other rational 
hypothesis than the fulfillment of his prediction that 
he would rise from the dead. 

For a time after the establishment of the church, it 
simply met with the opposition of the Sadducees. So 
long as the apostles confined their teaching mainly to 
the doctrine of the resurrection, the Pharisees agreed 
with them, and were interested in hearing them present 
such unanswerable arguments, in favor of their own 
fundamental doctrine against the materialism of the Sad- 
ducees. This circumstance throws light on the fourth 
chapter of Acts, in which it is related that when Peter 
and John were proclaiming to the people in the temple 
the resurrection of Jesus, they were attacked by the 
Sadducees: "And as they spake to the people, the 
priests and the captain of the temple, and the Saddu- 



22 



STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH, 



cees came upon them, being grieved that they taught 
the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrec- 
tion of the dead." It is thus easy to account for the 
fact that the Sadducees were the first persecutors. 

When, however, the Pharisees fully understood that 
Christianity was revolutionary, and designed to over- 
throw the whole system of traditional Judaism, they 
commenced a most violent opposition to the church. 
They persecuted the disciples with a great deal of zeal, 
and pursued them even into strange cities. Saul of 
Tarsus, who was afterwards converted and became Paul 
the apostle, was one of the most fiery persecutors. 

Herod Agrippa I. waged a bitter persecution against 
the Christians (Acts xii.). He was the grandson of 
Herod the Great, who caused the murder of the infants 
at Bethlehem ; the brother of Herodias, who caused 
the execution of John the Baptist ; and the father of 
that Agrippa before whom Paul made his defense at 
Caesarea. Like all the members of the Herodian fam- 
ily, he was unscrupulous and cruel. He persecuted the 
Christians simply because he saw that it pleased the 
Jews. He determined to destroy the leaders of the 
church, and slew the apostle James with a sword. He 
apprehended Peter, put him in prison until after the 
Passover, and he then intended to publicly execute 
him. Sixteen soldiers were appointed to guard him by 
day and by night, so that there might be no way for 
his escape. While he was sleeping between two sol- 
diers, an angel of the Lord awoke him, guided him 
through the great iron gate to the street, while the sol- 
diers appeared as if they were fixed to the earth. 

Christianity gained a great victory over Judaism in 
the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. He was really the 



CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM. 23 

greatest man in modern times, and the greatest mis- 
sionary of all ages. The Jews persecuted him on 
all occasions, and finally caused him to appeal to 
Caesar. His addresses before Felix, Festus and 
Agrippa are masterpieces of oratory, and show the 
great superiority of the spirit of Christianity over that 
of Judaism. 

The destruction of Jerusalem, in the year of our 
Lord seventy, consummated the national opposition of 
Judaism to Christianity. Never did a people suffer 
more than did the Jews during the siege of their great 
city. More than eleven hundred thousand of them 
perished. They suffered what Jesus predicted would 
be the consequence of their stubbornness and infidelity 
(Luke xix. 43, 44). Their proud city was entirely 
destroyed, and more than eighteen hundred years have 
already swept over its buried pomp and bowed grandeur. 

" From the last hill that looks on thy once holy dome 
I behold thee, O Sion ! when rendered to Rome ; 
'T was thy last sun went down, and the flames of thy fall 
Flashed back on the last glance I gave to thy wall." 

Byron. 
" Fallen is thy throne, O Israel! 

Silence is o'er thy plains ; 
Thy dwellings all lie desolate, 
Thy children weep in chains." 

Moore. 

There is a better time coming for the Jews. If 
their rejection was the reconciliation of the Gentile 
world, their reception will be a life from the dead. I 
fully believe that a new civilization will dawn upon the 
Orient, but it must be a Christian civilization. 



CHAPTER III. 

TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY OVER PAGANISM. 

At the introduction of Christianity, neither the 
name heathen nor pagan had an existence. While the 
words were not there, the reality was there, with other 
designations. The word pagan is from the Latin pagus, 
which means a village. Christianity first triumphed 
in the great centers, leaving the villages with their old 
superstitions. They were, therefore, called pagans. 
This gives us a hint on the apostolic method of evan- 
gelization. The word heathen had an origin similar to 
that of pagan. When Christianity was first introduced 
into Germany, the wild dwellers on the JieatJis longest 
resisted the truth. From this fact the word heathen 
took its origin. 

Some modern infidel lecturers insist that Christianity 
was a superstition, which first spread among the ignor- 
ant, and in that way, it finally triumphed in the 
Roman empire. Philology is against that supposition, 
and it teaches two important facts : first, that the 
church of Christ did plant itself in the very haunts of 
learning and intelligence; second, that it shunned not 






TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY OVER PAGANISM. 25 

discussion, that it did not fear to grapple with the wit 
and wisdom of the world ; but on the contrary, had its 
claims first recognized by them, and completely tri- 
umphed over all opposing powers in the great cities 
of the world. 

The idea of a universal religion was peculiar to 
Christianity, and it was so new to the world that it was 
even difficult for the disciples to understand it. The 
emphasis that Jesus placed upon this idea was the prin- 
cipal cause of his execution. The ancient religions were 
state religions, and it was never supposed that any one 
of them could become the universal religion. Even 
the great conquerors of Asia generally left the subdued 
nations to the enjoyment of their own religions. Not 
even Judaism was an exception to the national charac- 
ter of the ancient religions. The influence of a Jewish 
education upon the disciples was such, that notwith- 
standing the fact that the universality of the Christian 
religion was clearly expressed in the Great Commission, 
they understood it to mean that the Gentiles must be- 
come Jews before they could become Christians. It 
required a miracle to convince Simon Peter that it was 
his duty to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. 

The Son of Righteousness arose, and like the glori- 
ous orb He brought light from beyond the skies, to 
shine upon the earth. 

Stephen, who had been brought up in Alexandria, 
in Egypt, and was more favorable to the Gentiles than 
were the Jews of Palestine, was the martyr for Gentile 
Christianity. It was not, however, designed that an 
Alexandrian Jew should be the champion of Christi- 
anity among the Gentiles ; but God preferred to select 
the most orthodox, a leader among the Pharisees. 



26 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

Hence, Saul of Tarsus was chosen. A careful study 
of the life and work of the apostle Paul should con- 
vince the most skeptical of the divine origin of the 
Christian religion. It is not surprising that Lord 
Lytheton selected Paul as a scriptural character from 
which to argue the supernatural claims of Christianity. 
Although Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, 
the most learned of Jewish doctors, was zealous for 
the law as interpreted by the Pharisees, and was a 
fiery persecutor; yet, all at once, he changed his life, 
and became the boldest of the defenders of the 
divinity of Christ. He was the most efficient agent in 
the dissemination of Christianity among the Gentiles. 
In his second missionary tour, he introduced the gospel 
into Europe; at Athens, he stood on Mars' Hill, and 
preached Christ to the Epicurean and the Stoical 
philosophers. At last the great apostle visited Rome, 
in chains, and made converts even of membtrs of 
Caesar's household. 

* The historian Gibbon in trying to account for the 
triumph of Christianity over the Gentile world seems 
to recognize at first its supernatural claims by giving as 
the primary cause of its rapid propagation the doctrine 
itself and the ruling providence of its author. After- 
wards he assigns the following secondary causes and 
appears to ignore the primary: (i) The inflexible zeal 
of the Christians ; (2) The doctrine of a future life ; 

(3) The union and discipline of the Christian church ; 

(4) The miraculous power ascribed to the primitive 
church ; (5) The virtues of the first Christians. 

The zeal of the early Christians certainly had much 
to do in advancing the cause of Christianity, but there 
was a different reason for their zeal than that given by 



TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY OVER PAGANISM. 2^ 

Mr. Gibbon. The historian thinks that their zeal was 
derived from Judaism ; but on this hypothesis, how can 
he account for the fact that Peter had courage to up- 
braid the whole Jewish nation in the very capital of 
Judea itself with having killed the Prince of life? The 
zeal of the disciples was not derived from the unsocial 
spirit of Judaism, but from full persuasion of the truth 
of Christianity. The zeal of the disciples does not 
prove the truth of Christianity, for the propagators of 
false religions have been zealous ; but it does prove 
the honesty of the early disciples. When we consider 
their opportunities of knowing just who Jesus was, it 
is not possible to account for their honesty without ad- 
mitting the supernatural claims. The doctrine of a 
future life is the second secondary cause given by Mr. 
Gibbon for the rapid spread of Christianity among the 
Gentiles. It is true that the ancient nations generally 
believed in a future life, but their conception of it greatly 
differed from that of the Christians. As a rule, they 
did not believe in the resurrection of the body, and 
the Christian doctrine of rewards and punishments did 
not harmonize with the teachings of the various ethnic 
religions. These things were certainly in the way of 
the rapid progress of Christianity among Pagan nations. 
It offered no sparkling wine nor bright-eyed maidens to 
its devotees in the future state. Those who expected 
its rewards had to be converted men and women. 

Great stress is laid by Gibbon upon the union and 
discipline of the Christian church as a cause of the 
triumph of Christianity. The great historian does not 
appear to have been familiar with the history of the apos- 
tolic church. The greatest curse with which the apos- 
tles had to contend was the tendency to division on the 



28 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

part of the disciples. It was not long until some were 
of Paul, some of Apollos, some of Cephas, and a few 
left for Christ. The tendency to division is an evil in 
human nature, which Christianity has to overcome; 
and this evil tendency has impeded the progress of true 
religion in all ages. 

The belief in miracles is another cause given by the 
historian for the rapid growth of Christianity. The 
belief in miracles was not peculiar to the Christians, for 
the Pagan nations equally believed in them. It is not 
a belief in miracles that advances a cause, but the 
ability to establish the truth of the miracles. The 
absurd pretensions of the Roman church to miracu- 
lous power has converted one-half of her numbers to 
Protestantism, and a large portion of the other half to 
infidelity. The miracles of the early church certainly 
had much to do in establishing its claims, but it was 
from the fact that the apostles positively showed their 
ability to work miracles. 

The mention of the virtues of the early Christians 
by Mr. Gibbon, as a cause of the triumphs of 
Christianity over heathenism, is a great concession to 
Christianity. These virtues certainly stand out in bold 
relief against the vices of Pagan nations. Pope thus 
speaks of the heathen gods : 

"Gods partial, changeful, passionate, unjust 
Whose attributes were rage, revenge, or lust, 
Such as the souls of cowards might conceive, 
And, formed like tyrants, tyrants would believe." 

Polytheism was a great impediment to the progress of 
the gospel. With the higher classes it became associ- 
ated with a pantheistic philosophy, which made pre- 
tensions to h'gh culture. With the lower classes, it 



TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY OVER PAGANISM. 20, 

became very degrading idolatry. The gods themselves 
had the infirmities ascribed to them by the poet. 
Jupiter shook his locks in anger, and made Olympus 
tremble. Venus bled from a wound on her finger, and 
Mars was injured with a stone from Diomedes. Neptune 
and Apollo were hired out and cheated. The gods, 
by their marriages, were involved in perpetual jealous- 
ies. Although the gods were called holy and just, they 
were full of envy, wrath, hatred, cruelty, perjury and 
adultery. Paul gives a vivid picture of the heathen 
world in his eoistle to the Romans. Their debased 

A 

condition was the necessary consequence of worshiping 
the gods we have mentioned ; for man becomes as- 
similated to the character of the object worshiped. 

It has been said that chastity is a trait, which has 
elevated the Japhetic races above the Hamitic. This 
is, doubtless, true ; but at the introduction of Christi- 
anity, the Japhetic races had greatly degenerated. The 
marriage bond had but little force in Rome in the days 
of Augustus. Seneca gives a fearful description of the 
morals of the Romans of his day. Lust daily increased, 
and the sense of shame daily diminished. Their festi- 
vals and other solemn days were polluted by a licen- 
tious indulgence in every kind of excess ; and on such 
occasions the supposed mansions of the gods were 
made the scenes of vile and beastly gratification. 

The Christians, in contrast with all this, lived most 
virtuous lives. They were reviled by their enemies as 
stubborn-, and unwilling to enjoy the pleasures of life. 
The Apostolic church presented to the world the best 
social condition to which humanity has thus far attained. 
There was among them an absence of all selfish aims, a 
perfect union of hearts, a thorough sympathy among 



30 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

themselves as they were united in one faith, one hope 
and one love. The truth had penetrated to the lowest 
depths of their affections, and they loved the Lord with 
their whole hearts and their neighbors as themselves. 
The elements of the best society, according to the 
science of Sociology, are: (i) A common cause, in 
which all are united ; (2) A profound conviction of the 
truth developing the best faculties of their nature ; and 
(3) Such an enthusiastic love that it conquers all selfish 
e'ements. These conditions were all fulfilled in the 
Apostolic church. 

Pliny, in his letters to Trajan, shows the moral char- 
acter of the early Christians. There was frequently 
an effort to satirize the Christians in the Roman thea- 
ters. These things sometimes led to the conversion of 
the actors. Under Diocletian, an actor by the name of 
Genesius appeared in a play in which the Christians 
were ridiculed. He performed his part until the time 
came to ask for baptism. He was then so impressed, 
that he renounced paganism and declared himself a 
Christian. He was baptized, and soon after executed. 
We can account for the superior moral character of the 
Christians over that of the pagans, only on the ground 
of the divine character of Christianity. 

The Christian teachers among the Gentiles had to 
contend with many propagandists of heathen systems 
of philosophy. Platonism and Aristotelianism had 
each able and persistent advocates; and Christianity 
was pronounced by them foolishness. These philoso- 
phies, like Judaism, had done much to prepare the 
world for Christianity ; but after they had fulfilled their 
mission, like Judaism they opposed the new light that 
had dawned upon the world. In the first century 



TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY OVER PAGANISM. 3 1 

A. d. , Epicureanism and Stoicism were the prevailing 
philosophies at Athens, which was the center of 
civilization, according to heathen Philosophy. At the 
conclusion of Paul's celebrated discourse on Mars' Hill, 
the Epicureans mocked, and the Stoics went away in- 
differently, saying, " We will hear you again concern- 
ing this matter. " Paul warned the Colossians against 
the baneful influence of the leading systems of philoso- 
phy belonging to that age. The systems against which 
we contend at the present time are very similar to those 
that existed in the days of Paul. The Stoics were 
Pantheists, the Epicureans were Materialists, and the 
Academicians were Agnostics. The literary opponents 
of Christianity were educated in these schools. Celsus 
and Lucian wrote in the second century ; the first was 
the Tom Paine of Greek rationalism, and the second 
was the Voltaire of Greek literature. They anticipated 
nearly all the criticism and sarcasm put forth by recent 
infidels. The way in which they were answered showed 
that the church then had in it the greatest men of the 
age. 

Porphyry, in the third century, imitated Celsus. 
and he was the most bitter and unfair enemy the church 
had thus far encountered. The answer of origin to 
Celsus was also a sufficient answer to him, and it 
placed Christianity upon a true historic foundation. 

Those persons who depended upon the heathen re- 
ligions for a living, were also very bitter towards the 
church. A good example ot this was the case of Demet- 
rius, a silver smith at Ephesus. What the Carnival is a 
Rome, that the month of May was in Ephesus. It 
was Diana's month, and everything that could be done 
was done to make it a time of pleasure as well as adora- 



32 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

tion of the goddess. In connection with this festival, 
there had sprung up a lucrative business in manufac- 
turing silver models of the shrine of Diana, to be worn 
as charms by devoted worshipers. The image of the 
Virgin is worn by superstitious worshipers, in the same 
way at the present day. Paul's preaching seems to 
have interfered with this business, and like modern 
whisky dealers, they were determined to defend their 
craft. 

Christianity had to contend against the civil power 
of Rome. As long as the Christians in Rome were 
looked upon as a Jewish sect, their religion was a 
religio licita, and protected by the state ; but as soon as 
it was understood to be separate from Judaism, it was 
regarded as a criminal rebellion against a national re- 
ligion. In Rome, religion, as well as everything else, 
had to serve the state. The Roman cared nothing 
about a man's opinions or the condition of his heart, 
so long as he obeyed the laws of the state. The em- 
peror was at the head of the Roman religion, and those 
who refused to worship his statue were regarded as re- 
bels against the Roman government. Those termed 
the good emperors of Rome were really the most bitter 
persecutors; for they were the more zealous in execu- 
ting Roman law. They as much considered it their 
duty to execute Christians, as we think it the duty 
of our authorities to punish the most willful criminals. 

It is generally considered that there were ten great 
persecutions against the Christians. This is an arbitrary 
division, and should not be taken literally. It arose 
from a desire to maintain a methodical o/der, and does 
not harmonize with fact. It would not be true to state 
that persecution broke forth only ten times before the 



TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY OVER PAGANISM. 33 

days of Constantine. In fact it never fully ceased, 
and the most prosperous times had their martyrs. It 
could not well be otherwise, for Christianity was illegal, 
and the officers had to execute the law. 

It never will be known until the judgment of 
the great day, the sufferings the Christians endured 
under the different emperors from Nero to Diocletian. 
Nero was a wicked despot, and to hide his own sins 
persecuted the innocent. It appears strange to us that 
delicate females could bear such tortures as were in- 
flicted upon Christian women by the Roman authorities ; 
but they professed a religion which gave them strength, 
and could rejoice when washing their hands in flames of 
fire. During the persecution under Septimus Severus a 
woman, who had recently become a mother, was brought 
before the authorities. Her name was Perpetua, and 
neither the love she bore for her child, nor her aged 
father could induce her to deny her Lord. Her father 
pleaded with her with tears in his eyes, but she declared 
that she was a Christian, and could be nothing else. 
When the young gladiator, who was appointed to kill 
her trembled, she took his hand and guided the knife 
to her throat. 

It was a long time before Diocletian could be in- 
duced to persecute the Christians ; but when he did 
undertake the bloody work, he carried it to a greater 
degree of perfection than had any of his predeces- 
sors. He boasted at one time that he would exter- 
minate the Christians ; but the more he persecuted 
them the faster they grew. Wordsworth has the follow- 
ing beautiful lines in reference to the persecution nudfir 
Diocletian: 



34 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

" Lament ! for Diocletian's fiery sword 
Works busy as the lightning; but instinct 
With malice ne'er to deadliest weapons linked, 
Which God's ethereal storehouses afford 
Against the Followers of the incarnate Lord 
It rages ; some are smitten in the field 
Some pierced beneath the unavailing shield 
Of sacred home ; — with pomp are others gored 
And dreadful respite." 

After a conflict of three hundred years, Christianity 
triumphed over both ecclesiastical and political Rome. 
Constantine the Great, has, doubtless, been too severely 
criticised. He was certainly not a pure, spiritual and 
active Christian, nor was he a hypocrite as some seem 
to think. He had been educated under the influence 
of a state religion, which paid attention only to exter- 
nals. The Roman knew nothing about a religion 
which changes the heart, and it is not to be supposed 
that Constantine understood the principles of Christi- 
anity. His conduct, however, does show his fidelity 
to the Christian church, and he did what he could to 
advance its interest. He told Eusebius about the 
cross he saw in the sky, and the historian has left us a 
faithful record of it. It is evident that Constantine 
was convinced that the victory over an army much 
larger than his own, was due to divine help. In the 
cross he conquered, and the cross after that was his 
banner. God had use for this great man, and whatever 
may have been his faults, he accomplished a great 
work in advancing a true religion. He seems to have 
understood the principles of religious freedom, and 
granted toleration to all. His sincerity is shown in the 
fact that he was baptized before his death. While we 
know that Constantine had many faults, we must re- 



TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY OVER PAGANISM. 35 

member that he accomplished the almost impossible 
thing — that of being a Roman emperor, and a Christian 
at the same time. Politically speaking, the choice of 
Constantine was a wise one, for he selected the only- 
religion that had in it vitality enough to sustain the 
declining glory of imperial Rome. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE CHURCH OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

Caesar conquered the Northern nations, and theyv 
in their turn, conquered Rome. For centuries there 
had been indications of the ultimate fall of Rome. 
The Roman people did not understand the world they 
had subdued, and they let foreign elements and idle- 
ness corrupt and debilitate them. The decline of 
Rome was, therefore, the natural result of her immod- 
erate greatness. Her conquests and prosperity sowed 
the seed of her ultimate decay ; and when we consider 
her deteriorating tendency, we are surprised that she 
subsisted so long. The (Condition of Rome was very 
much like that of a decrepit old man — the vital func- 
tions, though weak, went on for a time, but no physi- 
cians could more than postpone the day of doom. 
When this great body politic became a carcass, the 
vultures of prey were then, of course, ready to seize 
her. Byron gives us the following appropriate lines : 

" First freedom, and then glory — when that falls, 
Wealth, vice, corruption, — barbarism at last. 

And history, with all her volumes vast, 

3<5 



THE CHURCH OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 3/ 

Hath but one page, — 't is bettei written here, 

Where gorgeous tyranny had thus amassed 

All treasures, all delights, that eye or ear, 

Heart, soul, could seek, tongue ask. Away with words !" 

The barbarians, fresh and vigorous from the forests 
of Northern Europe, came, in the fifth century, like an 
avalanche upon Imperial Rome. There were three 
waves of invasion, which crushed for centuries the 
civilization of Europe. The races that took part in the 
great conflict were the Teutonic, the Slaves, and the 
Turanians. All except the Turanians, represented in 
the main by the Huns, were Germanic in origin. 
The invasions of Caesar kept up for a long time the 
barriers between Rome and savage nations, but they 
finally gave way. The Goths, Franks, Vandals, and 
other Teutonic tribes, soon stripped the Western Em- 
perors of all their dominions outside of Italy, and in 
476 a. D. , the crown of Rome passed into the hands of 
Odoa:er, king of the Visigoths. Thus fell Rone, the 
conqueror of the world. Her patriotism, bravery and 
temperance had made her supreme, and the name of 
Roman citizen was honored throughout the world. 
Even Paul felt proud that he could say, "I am a 
Roman." When Rome exchanged the qualities of 
true manhood for the wealth and luxury of her con- 
quered provinces, the title of Roman citizen became 
nothing but an empty name. 

"The Goth, the Christian, time, war, flood, and fire, 
Have dealt upon the seven-hilled city's pride; 

She saw her glories star by star expire, 

And up the steep barbarian monarchs ride, 

Where the car climbed the capitol ; far and wide 
Temple and tower went down, nor left a sight : 

■Chaos of ruins ! who shall trace the void, 



38 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

O'er the dim fragments cast a lunar light, 
And say, ' here was, or is,' where a 1 is doubly night ?" 

Byron. 

The period intervening between the fall of the 
Western Roman Empire in the fifth century, and the 
discovery of America by Columbus, is usually known 
as the Middle Ages, or, more correctly, the Middle 
Age. It is also called the Dark Age, or Ages, on 
account of the disorganized condition of society. 
There was universal chaos, and everything seemed to 
be in a jumble. Macaulay says it cost Europe a thou- 
sand years of barbarism to escape the fate of China. 
One great mission of Rome appears to have been to 
give the world civil law ; and although Rome was 
politically dead, the barbarians largely adopted the 
laws of Rome. While the barbarians conquered Rome, 
Roman institutions finally conquered the barbarians. 
After all, there is nothing lost by the destruction of 
nations that have accomplished their mission. War is 
a terrible thing, but it is better than stagnation. Had 
Rome conquered the North, the individuality and free- 
dom of nations would have been destroyed. The rude 
barbarian of Germany was noted for personal ir depend* 
ence, love of liberty, and love of woman, which are 
among the most essential elements of modern civiliza- 
tion. The union of these elements with Roman law, 
has given us a civilization far superior to that of 
Rome, when in the zenith of her glory. 

It was fortunate for modern civilization that the 
church converted barbarian Europe. It was the bond 
of union between the different nations during the Dark 
Age, and it was the most effectual force in preventing 
the utter wreck of society. When Rome died politi- 



THE CHURCH OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 2>9 

cally, the ideas of Rome politic were transferred to 
Rome ecclesiastic, and the Latin Church became 
largely the reproduction of the old Roman Common- 
wealth. There is a very striking likeness between Ro- 
man Catholic ceremonies and those of Pagan Rome. 
Winking, nodding, sweating, bleeding images, holy 
water, vestments, relics, incense and saints' days, were 
all borrowed from Pagan Rome. In the Roman 
Church, the central idea is authority, and it is certainly 
a reproduction of the Roman State religion, which was 
a part of the Roman Empire. 

The papacy was not a part of the Apostolic Church, 
but an aftergrowth within the church. In the early 
church, there was no distinction between bishops and 
elders ; and the two words denoted precisely the same 
office, being derived from different languages. Simon 
Peter himself was an elder (I. Pet. v. i). In the third 
century the Roman bishops began to assume super- 
iority over others, but their assumptions were not 
recognized. Leo the Great, who lived in the fifth cen- 
tury, was the first Roman bishop who was able to sus- 
tain his claims as the head of all the churches. He 
was sustained by the Emperor Valentinian III., who 
declared that the empire was sustained mainly by the 
Christian Church, and that its peace depended upon 
the primacy of the Roman See. The church was at 
this time centralized in the following ways: (i) It was 
the center of society. It protected the weak, and its 
buildings were places of refuge. The church absorbed 
Pagan society, and conformed itself to heathen cus- 
toms. (2) The priest became the center of the church. 
His word was law to society, and his deeds were praised 
by all. His work to ameliorate the condition of society 



40 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

certainly did great good in that age of chaos. (3) The 
bishop was over the priest, and was, therefore, at the 
head of a community of churches. (4) The bishop of 
Rome was pope, and at the head of the entire system. 
The word pope is derived from the word papa, father, 
and it was for a time applied to all the bishops ; but 
finally it was limited to the Bishop of Rome. 

The greatest of the popes was Hildebrand, the son 
of a carpenter, and born in 1015. He was much dis- 
gusted with the vices about him, and determined to 
bring about a reformation. He saw the church 
under the heavy hand of the secular powers, and 
determined to place the secular powers under it. He 
could not see, as Protestants do, how the Church 
could be separate from the State ; so it was his pur- 
pose to free the papacy from the secular powers, spirit- 
ualize it, and lift it above all thrones. Thus he would 
make the pope king of kings. He became pope in 
1073, and took the name of Gregory VII. He claimed 
that the Roman See had the right to depose kings, 
and release subjects from their oath of fidelity. 
The great contest was between Gregory and Henry IV., 
emperor of Germany. Henry was reprimanded by 
the pope, and sent back an indignant letter in which 
he called Gregory a false monk. Hildebrand read his 
letter to the Lent synod, and by a vote of the bishops 
the emperor was deposed, and all Christians absolved 
from allegiance to him. The king had also held a 
council, and deposed the pope. All Europe looked 
anxiously to see who would be triumphant. The Ger- 
man Diet of October, 1076, agreed that various ques- 
tions in dispute should be left to the pope, who should 
be invited to the next diet at Augsburg. It was also 



THE CHURCH OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 4 1 

agreed that if Henry did not obtain pardon from the 
pope and be restored to the church before the sunset 
of February 23, 1077, another emperor should be 
elected. The king, with his beautiful wife, Bertha, 
and her infant, Conrad, passed over the snows of St. 
Bernard, and the German emperor completely humil- 
iated himself before the Roman pontiff. Hildebrand 
was at the castle of Canossa, enjoying the society of 
Matilda, the Italian Zenobia. The king, stripped of 
every badge of royalty, clad in penitential garb, bare- 
foot in the snow, pleaded three days for pardon, hoping 
that every hour would end his penance. On the 
fourth day the tall emperor came weeping before the 
heavy-built pope, and received upon his naked back 
stripes inflicted by the haughty pontiff. It is said that 
Hildebrand even put his foot upon the emperor's neck. 

The king prayed to the pope to save his crown, 

But could not banish the tyrant's frown ; 

The haughty Bishop long did pardon delay, 

That the proud king the longer at his feet might stay 

Neither the pope nor the king was honest ; so the re- 
conciliation did not last long. Gregory was finally 
humbled as well as the emperor, but he certainly did 
more than any other man to make the Roman Catholic 
hierarchy supreme. 

The Church, during the Middle Ages, did great good 
in holding society together. It was opposed to castes, 
so the children of the most humble might rise to dis- 
tinction in it. It formed a connecting link between 
the ancient and the modern world. Not only was the 
Bible preserved through its instrumentality, but it also 
transmitted to the modern world the literature of the 
Greeks and Romans. While we fully recognize the 



42 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

good done by the Church of the Middle Ages, it did 
became a gigantic despotism, and was in the way of 
the progress of civilization. As the Roman State was 
first a help and then an inpediment to the progress of 
humanity, so with the Roman Church. When the 
church denied the rights of individual reason, and 
would not let the people examine for themselves, it was 
in the way of progress. The right of compulsion was 
also a vicious principle, and it was stoutly condemned 
by the greatest church fathers. The wicked assump- 
tions of the Roman pontiff caused the division of the 
church into Eastern and Western. The development 
of the papacy is graphically described in the seventh 
chapter of Daniel, and Paul very severely condemns 
the man of sin. 

" I like a church ; I like a cowl ; 

I love a prophet of the soul ; 

And on my heart monastic aisles 

Fall like swe? t strains, or pensive smiles; 

Yet not for all his faith can see 

Would I that cowled churchman be." 

Emerson. 

The most deadly foe that the Christian Church had 
to encounter during the Middle Ages, was Moham- 
medanism. It appears strange to some that the coun- 
try, which was first evangelized by the apostles, should 
be overrun by the religion of the false prophet. All 
this is clearly foretold in the Bible. The prophet 
Daniel, in his eighth chapter, clearly foretells the rise 
and progress of Politico Ecclesiastical despotism in 
Western Asia. The apostle John also gives the outlines 
of its career and final overthrow. Had it not been for 
apostasy on the part of the Church of God, Moham- 
medanism never could have been established. A!l that 



THE CHURCH OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 43 

is good in the Koran is borrowed from the Bible, and 
Mohammedanism is a conglomeration of Christianity, 
Judaism and Paganism. 

In early life Mohammed was left an orphan, under 
the care of his uncle, Abu Talib. He was a shepherd 
in his youth, and attended faithfully to his duty. 
When twenty-five years of age he was employed as 
commercial agent for a rich widow by the name of 
Khadijah, and made frequent journeys for her into Pal- 
estine and Syria. He was greatly interested in religion, 
and learned much from Christian monks and Jewish 
rabbins. He finally married this rich widow, and 
although she was much older than himself, he always 
cherished for her the tenderest regard. He was a man 
of pleasing ways, fluent speech, commanding presence, 
and of a speculative turn of mind. It was his custom 
to retire for meditation to the lonely retreats of Mount 
Hira. He became a firm believer in the one true God, 
and was much opposed to the idolatry of his day. He 
was afflicted with epilepsy, and this partly accounts for 
his hallucinations. He thought that it was an evil 
spirit that directed him to prophesy, but was per- 
suaded by his wife that it was a heavenly vision. He 
believed that he was the last of the prophets sent by 
God, and his religion was called Islamism, which means, 
submission to the divine will. Mohammed claimed 
that both Moses and Christ were propheis, and that he 
was sent to restore to the world true monotheism. 
There can be no question about his sincerity in early 
life, for he was persecuted thirteen years for his religion, 
and finally driven from his home. Like other reform- 
ers, even since his day, he did not understand the 
principles of toleration, and took the sword in defense 



44 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

of his position. He then parted forever Irom the spirit 
of Christianity, and became one of the greatest tyrants 
of earth. Jesus refused Satan's offer of the kingdoms 
of this world ; but Mohammed yielded to the tempta- 
tion of the devil, and a great soul was ruined. 

Mohammed did not name a successor. His succes- 
sors were called Caliphs, and combined in themselves 
religious, civil and military authority. The first Caliph 
was Abubekr, the father-in-law of Mohammed. Moham- 
med had kindled the spirit of conquest, and his fol- 
lowers, full of the fire of fanaticism, drove everything 
before them. They soon conquered Persia, Syria and 
Egypt. Never, in the history of the world, have there 
been greater political changes in so short a time than 
during the first quarter of the seventh century. Islam- 
i c m reached the zenith of its glory under the Caliph 
Omar, who was noted for his military energy and 
simplicity of life. It was during his caliphate that the 
Alexandrian library was burned. After the death of 
Mohammed's immediate friends, the character of the 
Caliphs changed, and they adopted the luxury of the 
conquered countries. Conquest, however, for a long 
time went on, and the Saracens entered Europe, Spain 
was subdued, and had it not b^en for the energy of 
Charles Martel, all Europe might have become Moham- 
medan. The Ottoman Turks added new life to the 
declining religion of the false prophet, and in the mid- 
dle of the fifteenth century took the city of Constanti- 
nople, thus consummating the destruction of the Eastern 
Roman Empire. The territory of the Eastern Church 
was placed under the control of the victorious Mussul- 
mans. The only terms offered the Christians were the 
Koran, tribute, or death, and the Christian population, 



THE CHURCH OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 45 

of course, paid tribute. The poet gives a very inter- 
esting description of the conquests of the Mohamme- 
dans: 

" They come ! they come ! I see the groaning lands 

White with the turbans of each Arab horde; 
Swart Zaarah joins her misbelieving bands, 

Alia and Mohammed their battle word : 
The choice they yield — the Koran tribute or the sword. 

See how the Christians rush to aims amain! 
In yonder shout the voice of conflict roared ; 

The shadowy hosts are closing on the plain — 

Now, God and St. Iago strike, for the good cause of Spain. 1 * 

The poet Southy has the following : 

" Nor were the chiefs 
Of victory less assured, by long success 
Elate, and proud of that o'erwhelming strength 
Which, surely they believed, as it had rolled 
Thus far unchecked, would roll victorious on, 
Till, like the Orient, the subjected West 
Should bow in reverence at Mohammed's name; 
And pilgrims from remotest Arctic shores 
Tread with religious feet the burning sands 
Of Araby and Mecca's stony soil." 

The Scholastic Philosophy greatly influenced the 
Church of the Middle Ages. The name was derived 
from those who taught in the schools of Charlemagn. 
There were three elements in Scholasticism : (i) Logic ; 
(2) Philosophy ; (3) Theology. Knowlege was greatly 
limited, and men exercised their logical powers to the 
fullest extent, with the knowledge they did possess. 
Aristotle, the founder of Logic, was their model. In 
the East, Plato was the favorite philosopher, but in the 
West the Aristotelian Philosophy was entirely tri- 
umphant. This can be mainly accounted for on account 
of the difference in mental character between the people 



46 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

of the East and the West. The Metaphysics of Plato well 
suited the imaginative character of the Eastern peoples ; 
but the Logic and Philosophy of Aristotle better har- 
monized with the legal character of the Roman mind. 
The Logic and Philosophy of the Schoolmen were 
mainly employed to prove the doctrines of the Church. 

The Latin Church passively accepted the dogmatic 
theory of the Trinity from the East. The nature of 
sin, the depravity of man, the vicarious atonement, and 
other like questions, were assiduously discussed by the 
Schoolmen. One of the principal themes, therefore, 
with the Schoolmen, was man's relation to God. 
Anselm is called the father of Scholastic Theology. 
The Schoolmen did not intend to be unscriptural ration- 
alists, but aimed to be consistent with the teaching ol 
the Bible. This, however, they could not do ; for 
transubstantiation, supererogation, and many othei 
things taught by the Medieval Church are not taught in 
the Bible. When men commence speculating, it is 
difficult to tell where they will stop. The Schoolmen 
not only taught some very absurd things, but employed 
their dialectics upon some subjects very ludicrous. 
They were anxious to know the kind of clothes the 
saints would wear in heaven, and the position in which 
the wicked would lie in hell. 

The thirteenth century was the golden age of 
Scholasticism. It was divided into two schools, each 
represented by able teachers. As the monks were 
really the only scholars of the age, the different 
orders represented opposite views in the great questions 
in dispute. Thomas Aquinas, called the Angelic Doc- 
tor, was the greatest of the Dominicans. The Fran- 
ciscans were represented by the celebrated Duns Scotus, 



THE CHURCH OF THE MIDDLE A.GES. 47 

called the Subtle Doctor. The disputes between these 
•orders finally led some of the members into more inde- 
pendent investigation. The most noted of these was 
Roger Bacon, an Englishman of great learning, and a 
Franciscan. He employed the scientific method in phi- 
losophic investigation, and especially insisted upon the 
study of the Holy Scriptures. He studied the Bible 
in the original Hebrew and Greek, and did much to 
prepare the way for the introduction of the modern 
period. Scholasticism was not, therefore, without its 
benefits. Modern discussion between the Idealists and 
Realists is very much like the debates between the 
Nominalists and Realists of the Scholastic period. 
Such discussions whetted the intellect, and prepared it 
for more profitable exercise. The poet thus speaks of 
their discussions : 

" They stand 
Locked up together, hand in hand ; 
Every one leads as he is led, 
The same bare path they tread, 
And dance like fairies a fantastic round, 
But neither change their motion nor their ground." 

Carlyle compares them to spinning dervishes, who 
always end where they begin. This, however, is only 
one side of the picture. Scholasticism has a good side, 
as well as a bad one. It was represented by some great 
and good men, who loved the truth, and would have 
died for it. We should not forget Roger Bacon when 
we are inclined to condemn without limitation the work 
of the Schoolmen. 

Before concluding this chapter, we wish to say that 
the Church of the Middle Ages, in some respects, did 
a great work. It converted the barbarian nations to 



4-8 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

Christianity, and thus saved Europe from utter ruin. 
The Middle Ages were dark, but they would have been 
darker still had it not been for the work of the Church. 
The Crusades carried on by the church against Moham- 
medanism aroused the nations of Europe from their 
lethargy, and checked the fanatical spirit of the Mus- 
sulmans tor conquest. Had it not been for the Cru- 
sades all Europe might have been overrun by the armies 
of the false prophet. The Crusades also brought the 
West i.i contact with the East, and prepared the 
way for a revival of learning. The intellectual gym- 
nastics of the Schoolmen during the twelfth and thir- 
teenth centuries, show great mental strength and fore- 
tokened the dawn of a brighter age. The following 
lines of Pope, therefore, apply better to the early and 
middle part of the Middle Ages than to the last part : 

"Thus at her felt approach and secret might, 
Art after art goes out, and all is night. 
Philosophy, that reached the heavens before, 
Shrinks to her hidden cause, and is no more. 
Physic of Metaphysic begs defense, 
And Metaphysic calls for aid to sense: 
See mystery to Mathematics fly ! 
In vain ! they gaze, turn giddy, rave, and die." 



CHAPTER V. 

LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. 

The sixteenth century was fully ripe for the Reforma- 
tion. If Luther had not come in conflict with the 
Pope, there would doubtless have been a division any 
way in the church at some time during the century. 
The Middle Ages had come to an end, and Europe was 
upon the dawn of a new age. The human mind 
was seeking freedom, and the Reformation was the 
means of freeing it from the thralldom of the Dark 
Ages. There had been a revival of classic literature 
and art, and this greatly tended to emancipate the 
human mind. Angelo was the greatest artist of any 
age, and we can not call that period in the world's his- 
tory so very dark, which produced so great a genius as 
was he. What Angelo did for art, Erasmus did for 
literature ; and these men did much to prepare the 
world for the new age. Historians of the Reformation 
have not generally done justice by Erasmus. A careful 
study of his life will show that he had one great object 
in view, and he was true to that, even unto the end. 
He was a great literary reformer, and was a provi- 

49 



50 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

dential instrument in preparing Europe for the religious 
reformation. 

There had been efforts, for several centuries, to 
reform the Church. The Crusades had made the best 
men in Europe fully conscious of the corrupt tendency in 
the Roman Church. They were very anxious to reform 
it. They would have been horror-stricken at the idea of 
dividing it. Their work was for a reformation from 
within. Councils were held for that purpose, but they 
did not succeed. At the end of the fourteenth, and the 
beginning of the fifteenth, century, the great schism of 
the West occurred, which resulted in two Popes, and 
finally in three. The Council of Pisa, instead of recon- 
ciling Avignon with Rome, created another Pope. In 
141 4, the Council of Constance was convoked by a re- 
quest of the Emperor Sigismund. This Council under- 
took the reformation of the church. It proclaimed the 
indissolubility of the universal Council, and its super- 
iority to the See of Rome. It worked hard to estab- 
lish these principles, and reform the abuses which had 
crept into the Church ; but it failed. It gave special 
attention to the way in which the Court of Rome 
obtained money ; but Rome finally triumphed over it. 
So the efforts to reform the Church from within were 
complete failures. 

There were some daring reformers who lived more 
than a century before the Reformation, and were led 
to the stake on account of freely expressing their con- 
victions. 

John Wycliffe has truly been called the Morning 
Star of the Reformation. He gave the Bible to the 
English people, and prepared them for the great reform- 
atory work to follow. They could burn Wycliffe's body 



LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. 5 I 

and scatter the ashes, but, like the blood of Abel, his 
life and work would continue to speak. A poet 
expresses it thus : 

" The Avon to the Severn runs, 
The Severn to the sea ; 
And Wycliffe's dust shall spread abroad, 
Wide as the waters be." 

Huss, who was condemned at the Council of Con- 
stance, was another forerunner of the Reformation. 
His name meant ''goose," and when they were burn- 
ing him, he said: " You are now roasting a goose, but 
in a hundred years you will raise up a swan, whom you 
shall not roast or scorch ; him, men will hear sing ; 
him, God willing, they will let live." The words of 
Huss were prophetic, and they were fulfilled in Martin 
Luther. 

Martin Luther, the great German reformer, was 
born at Eisleben, Saxony, Nov. 10, 1483, and died at 
the same place, Feb. 18, 1546. His father was a poor 
peasant, but had, by frugality and industry, acquired 
before his death a respectable living for his family. In 
the son were combined the characteristics of both 
Northern and Southern Germany. He possessed the 
valor of the North and the gentleness of the South. 
Martin never forgot his humble origin, and was always 
proud to say that he was the son of a peasant. The 
discipline in the Luther family was severe, and Martin 
claimed that it made him timid, and caused him to be- 
come a monk. His mother once punished him so 
severely about a trivial matter that the blood flowed. 
The rod as frequently spoils the child by improper 
using as the neglect of it altogether. 

Although the parents of young Luther were poor, 



52 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

they determined to educate their son and prepare him 
for the law. In 1497 he was sent to Magdeburg, to 
prepare for the University. His father not being able 
to bear the expense there, removed him to Eisenach, 
where he could live with relatives and attend school 
at much less expense. The German schools in those 
days were extremely rigid. Luther speaks of having 
been flogged fifteen times in a single forenoon ; and he 
calls such schools purgatories, with tyrants and task- 
masters for teachers. For a number of years he had 
to support himself at school by singing songs in the 
neighboring villages. At times he almost despaired of 
ever being able to finish his education ; but the very 
trials he underwent were the means in the hands of 
God in preparing hirn for his great work. There was 
a wealthy lady by the name of Ursula Cotta, who was 
so charmed by the music, and with the religious devo- 
tion of young Luther, that she took pity on the poor, 
wandering boy, and assisted him with means in finish- 
ing his education. For this noble act, her name has 
been more than written in letters of gold. His father 
had acquired means, and was able to assist him at the 
University of Erfurt, which institution he entered in 
1 501. He remained there four years, and graduated 
with the degree of Master of Arts in 1505. 

After the completion of his education, the father 
endeavored to make a lawyer out of the son in whom 
he took so much pride, but the death of his most inti- 
mate friend, in a duel, and his own narrow escape by 
lightning and severe sickness, made such an impression 
upon the mind of young Luther that he determined to 
devote his life to the service of God. He was a be- 
liever in special providence, and thought that he was 



LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. 53 

divinely guided in the step he took. In July, 1505, 
he entered the Augustinian convent at Erfurt. He 
read there with great pleasure the sermons of the Ger- 
man mystic, Tauler. This, doubtless, had much influ- 
ence in originating Luther's mystical theory of justifi- 
cation. He also found a Bible, and studied it with 
great diligence. The other monks said of him: "If 
this brother studies, he will rule us." These words 
were certainly fulfilled. 

On the recommendation of Staupitz, in 1508 Luther 
was called to the chair of scholastic philosophy in the 
University of Wittenberg, which had been founded a 
few years before by Frederick the Wise, Elector of 
Saxony. At first he lectured on Aristotle, and then 
gave Biblical lectures, which soon became very popu- 
lar. His lectures were attended by professors as well 
as by students. Staupitz forced him also to preach, 
and his eloquence attracted great crowds. In 1511, 
probably in fulfillment of an old vow, Luther went to 
Rome. He thought he would find in Rome the pure 
religion he had been so long seeking. When he first 
saw the city, he was filled with the most joyful emo- 
tions, and exclaimed: " Blessed Rome! filled with the 
blood of martyrs !" Rome at that time was terribly 
corrupt, and Luther was entirely disappointed. The 
country was yet pagan in worship, and the Pope was 
an infidel as well as a priest. His only thought at that 
time was war with the French. This pope, Julius II., 
was represented by Michael Angelo as hurling his ben- 
diction at Bologna like Jupiter hurling thunder. He 
had ordered for himself a tomb as large as a temple. 
The Germans had always disliked the sensual tendency 
of Italian thought, and they instinctively despised the 



54 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

Roman law. Tacitus describes the cruel treatment, ore 
the part of the Germans, of a Roman lawyer, after the 
defeat of Varus. Luther left Rome well satisfied that 
he had visited modern Babylon. Luther returned to 
the University, and received, in 15 12, the degree of 
Doctor of Divinity. He continued to lecture on the 
New Testament, and was rapidly developing the prin- 
ciples of the Reformation. 

The Papacy did not suspect her danger. Ever 
since the thirteenth century she had been railed at ; 
until now the world appeared to her to be lulled 
to sleep by the monotonous wranglings of her schools. 
German society in the sixteenth century has been com- 
pared to the great icebergs which drift southward out 
of the frozen seas. Six-sevenths of them are under 
water, and the one-seventh above appears as firm as 
a rock. The warm water far below soon changes the 
center of gravity, and all at once the great iceberg is 
buried forever in the ocean. 

If Luther had been all, Rome could soon have si- 
lenced him as Huss was silenced ; but he was only at 
the head of an under-current which was strong enough 
to carry all Germany with it. Julius II. was succeeded 
by Leo X., who had bequeathed to him the duty 
of completing St. Peter's, at Rome. To obtain money, 
he sold the rights of the Church of France to Francis 
I., and created thirty cardinals at once. All this was 
not sufficient, so indulgences had to be sold. The 
Dominican Tetzel, an impudent mountebank, was ap- 
pointed agent in Germany. His course led to the bit- 
terest opposition on the part of Luther, who, on Oct. 
31, 1 5 17, nailed ninety-five theses to the door of the 
Schlosskirche of Wittenberg. They are one contin- 



LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. 55 

uous harangue against the doctrine and practice of in- 
dulgences. If Leo X. had been asked if he believed 
in pardon-selling, he would doubtless have answered 
that the Church held that the Pope had the power to 
grant them. If he had given his private opinion, he 
would have said, " If the people were disposed to be 
fools, it was his business to accommodate them." 

Luther's theses were soon heard from in Rome, and 
the Pope, in a letter to the Elector of Saxony, called 
him that notorious son of wickedness. When ordered 
to recant, he replied, "I can not recall." In 15 19 he 
had a discussion with Eck, at Leipzig. It commenced 
on the subject of indulgences, but Eck took the posi- 
tion that without the Pope there could be no church. 
Luther denied this, and referred to the early history of 
the church to support his position. He declared that 
the Greek Church was a part of the Church of Christ, 
and denied the superiority of the Roman Church. Eck 
declared that his arguments were the same as those of 
Huss, which had been condemned at the Council 
of Constance, and he refused to debate any longer. 
Luther said that he had become a Hussite without 
knowing it, but that Paul and Augustine were Hussites. 

Luther next took a step which greatly infuriated 
Rome. He wrote a letter to the German nobles, 
in which he declared that the time had come when 
Germany ought to be free from Rome, both politically 
and religiously. 

For a long time the Pope was not disposed to be 
harsh with Luther. He thought it was a quarrel be- 
tween monks, and would soon end. He now looks 
upon Luther as a rebel and a traitor, and immediately 
excommunicates him. Eck posted it up in the German 



$6 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

towns, but usually the people and students tore it 
down. It reached Wittenberg in December, 1520, and 
Luther, with the University professors and students, 
went to the market-place and publicly burned it. A 
companion threw in a copy of the canon law ; and thus 
Germany was declared to be free from Rome. Before 
a notary and five witnesses, Luther drew up a solemn 
protest, and appealed from the Pope to a general coun- 
cil. This was a declaration of the superiority of the 
church in general to the authority of the Roman 
See. 

The Roman Church can do nothing more with the 
refractory monk, and is forced to appeal to the Empe- 
ror. Melanchthon declared that Luther's only hope was 
in the Elector Frederick. God takes care of his ser- 
vants, and he took care of Luther through the Elector 
of Saxony. Frederick was the man for the occasion. 
Only one year had passed since the seven German 
electors met to elect a new Emperor. The crown was 
offered to Frederick ; but he declined it, and nominated 
Charles. Charles V. owed his crown to the Elector of 
Saxony, and could not afford to offend his friend. 
Frederick was a friend to Luther ; and this was a great 
blessing to the Reformation. In 1521, the great Ger- 
man reformer appeared before the Diet of Worms, and 
he showed the spirit of a true hero. A priest had 
shown him a portrait of Savonarola, and urged him to 
stand firm, as God was with him. Friends had re- 
minded him of John Huss, and urged him not to go. 
He replied: " Huss was burnt, but not the truth with 
him. I will go into Worms, though as many devils 
are aiming at me as there are tiles on the house-tops." 

Luther was calm and skillful in his arguments be- 



LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. 57 

fore the Diet, and when the papal legate began to act 
-as inquisitor at the second hearing, said, " Well, then, 
if my answer is not full and fair, you shall have one 
plain enough. I believe things which are contrary to 
the Pope and Councils, for it is as clear as day that 
they have often erred. Let me, then, be refuted and 
convinced by the testimony of Scripture, or by the 
clearest arguments ; otherwise I can not and will not 
recant, for it is neither safe nor expedient to act against 
conscience. Here I stand. I can not do otherwise. 
God help me! Amen." 

The next day Luther was pronounced an avowed 
heretic, and the papal party urged the Emperor to re- 
scind his safe-conduct. He replied that he did not 
want to blush as did Sigismund ; but it is claimed that 
thirty years afterwards he regretted it. I hardly 
think that a dying man would regret having kept his 
word. If Luther had been burned at Worms, it would 
have caused rebellion on the part of the German 
princes, and it was better for the Emperor that things 
went as they did. It is said that four hundred knights 
and eight thousand soldiers were at Worms, ready to 
defend Luther against the Romanists. 

On his return from Worms, the Reformer was ar- 
rested by friendly knights and taken to the lonely cas- 
tle of Wartburg. This was done by the order of the 
Elector, to save the life of his friend. Luther was busy 
while confined to what he called his Patmos. Besides 
other literary work, he translated the Bible into the 
German language. This did much towards developing 
the resources of the German language, as well as devel- 
oping the grand principles of the Reformation. He 
left Wartburg Castle on account of the extreme tenden 



58 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

cies shown by some of the professed friends of the 
Reformation. Things were in a bad shape at Witten- 
berg, and he determined to go there. Frederick 
warned him not to expose himself, as Duke George 
might seize him. His reply was, " I will go, if it rains 
Duke Georges nine days." He, who had stood as 
firmly before the great conclave at Worms as Gibraltar 
stands in the sea, was not afraid to go anywhere when 
duty called. He soon settled affairs at Wittenberg, 
and continued the great work of the Reformation. 

One of the greatest trials with which Luther had to 
contend was the Peasants' War. They had been greatly 
oppressed, and the Reformation gave them an oppor- 
tunity to demand their rights. Historians are agreed 
that nearly all their demands were just, and have since 
been granted. If Luther had thrown his influence 
with them, he might have checked their excesses and 
prevented the shedding of so much innocent blood. It 
was a terrible blow to the Reformation, for all the 
peasants were in favor of it. The results of the war 
made Luther feel sad, but he continued his work. He 
had advised the monks to marry, and concluded to 
take his own advice. He married a nun by the name 
of Catherine von Bora. It was a happy marriage. 
He made a tender husband and a loving father. He 
wrote very kind letters to his wife and children, and re- 
vealed the tenderness of his heart. 

At the close of the Peasants' War, things began to 
look dark for the Reformation. A great Catholic 
league had been formed against it, and things were in 
a chaotic state in Germany. The Princes, however, 
soon became bolder ; and Luther himself was more 
than a Protestant — he was decidedly a Reformer. He 



LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. 59 

not only tore down popery, but built up that which 
was infinitely better. While the Lutheran Church has 
made many errors, it is far in advance of the Church of 
Rome. Luther advocated civil government, education 
and church organization. On these subjects he has 
written some very beautiful things. His words on ed- 
ucation are almost prophetic ; for he thought that per- 
sons who would oppose the study of the languages 
would be of a skeptical turn of mind. While he made 
a mistake in reference to the Peasants' War, his posi- 
tion on civil government did much to prevent anarchy 
in Germany. In 1530, at the Diet of Augsburg, the 
Augsburg Confession, drawn up by Melanchthon, was 
adopted for the Protestants of Germany. In the con- 
vention at Smalcald, the Protestant Princes formed an 
alliance, which gave unity to the Protestant defense 
against the papacy. 

Martin Luther was certainly one of the greatest and 
most courageous of men. According to Schiller, every 
great mind lives for eternity. Had not Luther lived 
for eternity, he never would have showed the courage 
that - he did under such trying circumstances. 

" The monarch's sword, the prelate's pride, 

The church's curse, the emperor's ban, 
By one poor monk were all defied, 

Who never feared the face of man. 
Half battles were the words he said, 

Each born in prayer, baptized in tears, 
And, routed by them, backward fled 

The errors of a thousand years." 

The honesty and sincerity of Luther are also worthy 
of careful study. In his translation of the Bible, he 
made every effort to express the exact sense of the 
original. That Bible has done fully as much for the 



SO STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

German language as our English Bible has done for our 
language. Heine says : " How Luther ever got that 
language into which he translated the Bible is, to this 
hour, incomprehensible to me, for he translated it from 
a language which had ceased to exist into one which 
had not yet arrived." 

While the German Reformation was a great provi- 
dential movement in the right direction, it was only a 
Reformation in part. It still retained much of the 
tyrannical spirit, and held to many of the gross errors 
belonging to the Roman Church. Even Luther said 
of the Anabaptists, "Kill them without mercy, like 
dogs." He was certainly wrong in uniting with Ro- 
man Catholics against the Peasants of Germany. He 
also did evil in tolerating sensuality on the part of the 
Landgrave of Hesse. When Zwengle wished to unite 
with him, he refused, although the Swiss Reformer 
venerated the Bible fully as much as did he. Luther 
claimed the right of private judgment against the Bish- 
ops and Pope ; but refused it to one who was as con- 
scientious as himself. Luther's doctrine of justification 
by faith only was derived from the mystical philosophy 
of the Germans, and it is directly opposed to the word 
of God. Luther saw this, and discarded entirely the 
epistle of James. The rejection of the Apocalypse 
was another mistake committed by the immortal Ger- 
man. 



CHAPTER VI. 

JOHN CALVIN AND THE PRESBYTERIANS. 

John Calvin, one of the greatest of reformers, was 
born at Noyon, in Northern France, in 1509, and died 
at Geneva, in 1564. His father was an industrious 
man, and became a notary in an ecclesiastical court. 
His mother was a pious woman, and much devoted to 
her family. While high political positions could be 
attained to only by certain families, any position in the 
church was open to the son of the poorest peasant. 
The father of Calvin felt that his son might occupy the 
papal chair. The early inclinations of young Calvin 
caused his father to educate him for the priesthood. 
At an early age he was placed in the household of the 
noble family of De Montmor, where he received an 
elementary education with the children of the house* 
He soon became noted for a studious disposition and 
great memory. He loved solitude, and when he was 
with other students he found so much fault that they 
called him The Accusative Case. When he was thir- 
teen years old his father procured for him, from the 

bishop, the office of chaplain, in the Chapelle de Notre 

61 



62 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

Dame de la Gesine. A few days after he received ton- 
sure, and was installed into his office. 

The plague broke out at Noyon, and the young De 
Montmors were sent to Paris to finish their education. 
On account of the means received from his benefice, 
young Calvin was able to go along with them. He 
entered the College de la Marche, at that time under 
the regency of the noted Maturin Cordier, a man of 
fine education, liberal spirit, and an energetic teacher. 
Calvin claims that this man laid the foundation of his 
future success. He next studied at the College Mon- 
taigu, under a celebrated Spanish philosopher, where 
he surpassed all his competitors in philological and phil- 
osophical studies, and showed that ability which was 
afterwards so manifest in his writings. His application 
to study was so rigid that it laid the foundation of dis- 
ease, which made him a sufferer through life, and 
brought hitn to a premature grave. At the age of 
nineteen his father obtained for him the living of Marte- 
ville, which he held two years, and exchanged it for 
the cure of Pont l'Eveque, a village near Noyon. He 
was greatly elated by his early promotion, and preached 
a number of sermons to the people. He was not, 
however, destined to be ordained a Roman priest. 
His father, from worldly motives, began to think that 
the law would be a more lucrative business for his son, 
The son had come under the influence of a relative, 
who had translated the Bible into French, and became 
dissatisfied with the teaching of the Roman Church. 
He, of course, willingly abandoned the idea of becom- 
ing a priest. 

He went to Orleans, and studied law under the 
most distinguished law teachers in France. He studied 



JOHN CALVIN AND THE PRESBYTERIANS. 63 

law by day and the Bible by night. His progress in 
law was such that his most distinguished teacher 
selected him to fill his chair in his absence. 

The general scholarship of Calvin was such that 
when he left Orleans he was complimented with the 
grade of Doctor. Calvin went from Orleans to 
Bourges, to prosecute his law studies under a learned 
Italian, whom Francis I. had settled there as professor 
in that University. He also studied the Greek New 
Testament under Melchior Vormar, a German, then 
professor of Greek at Bourges. He also learned from 
this distinguished German many of the principles of 
the Protestant Reformation. His reputation at the 
University was such that, although he was only a stu- 
dent, he was requested to draw up an opinion on the 
divorce of Henry VIII., which had been submitted to 
the faculty of that university. The sudden death of 
his father caused him to leave the University, and 
return to his native town, where he remained about 
two years. We next hear of him in Paris, as the 
leader of the Reformation in France, when only 
twenty-four years of age. He does not appear to have 
regretted leaving the old church as did the German re- 
formers. When satisfied of the correctness of the 
Protestant cause, he cast in his lot with it without ap- 
parently hesitating or thinking about the past. 

Francis I. began to persecute the Protestants, and 
Calvin published his first work, " Seneca's de dem- 
entia," with an elaborate commentary. It is thought 
that his- design was to influence the king to clemency, 
but in that way it had but little effect. With the Prot- 
estant leaders Calvin left Paris, and found a refuge with 
the Queen of Navarre, the only sister of Francis I., 



64 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

and a friend to the Reformation. He left his retire- 
ment and returned to Paris, to meet in debate, on the 
subject of the Trinity, a Spaniard by the name of 
Michael Servetus. The mention of this man's name 
always suggests a stain upon the otherwise fair name of 
the celebrated Calvin. At the time appointed for the 
discussion, Servetus did not appear. Beza thinks he 
was afraid of Calvin, but he was, doubtless, much more 
afraid of the authorities. Calvin also encountered the 
Anabaptists, who were then rapidly disseminating their 
doctrines in France. He was especially opposed to 
the doctrine of soul-sleeping, and composed his Psy- 
chopannychia, which proves from the Bible the con- 
scious existence of the spirit between death and the 
resurrection. The Protestants of France were accused 
of holding the Anabaptist notions, and the king had 
such rumors circulated to justify his persecution of 
Protestants. He did not want to break with the Prot- 
estant princes of Germany, and resorted to this un- 
worthy expedient to justify his course. This caused 
Calvin to publish the first edition of his "Institutes," 
which became popular among Protestants everywhere. 
The great Reformer went to Italy to preach, and met 
with marked success. Persecution soon drove him 
away, and we next find him in Geneva. 

When Farel learned that Calvin was in Geneva, he 
visited him, and invited him to remain in the city. 
This Reformer had done a great work in Geneva, and 
felt that he needed Calvin to help complete it. Calvin 
gave a number of excuses, and among them the desire 
for retirement for study. When Farel saw that per- 
suasion would not succeed, he arose, and with eyes 
flashing fire, said: "I tell you, in answer to this pre- 



JOHN CALVIN AND THE PRESBYTERIANS. 65 

tense about your studies, in the name of Almighty 
God, if you will not devote yourself with us in the 
work of the Lord, the Lord will curse you as one seek- 
ing not Christ so much as himself." Calvin, feeling 
that it was the work of God, could resist no longer, 
and was immediately appointed teacher of theology. 
The work of organizing the Reformers of Geneva into 
an aggressive church was certainly a gigantic under- 
taking. There were several parties in the city, and the 
most dangerous to the Reformers were the Libertines. 
They were sensualists, and advocated the most danger- 
ous license. Calvin and Farel drew up a Confession 
of twenty-one articles, which was adopted by the City 
Council. The Republic of Geneva was a kind of the- 
ocracy, and all immorality was severely punished. 
Dancing, theater-going, and all amusements of a doubt- 
lul character were strictly torbidden. All persons who 
were caught out after nine o'clock at night, or were 
found singing indecent songs, were punished. The 
Reformers, doubtless, went too far, but their object 
was certainly a good one. They were anxious to bring 
society into unity and make the State a kind of Chris- 
tian Sparta. In the election of 1538 the Libertines 
triumphed, and the preachers were expelled from 
Geneva. 

Farel went to Neuenburg, and became pastor of a 
church there, and Calvin went to Strasburg. The 
three years spent by this great reformer in Strasburg, 
were not spent in idleness. He was active with tongue 
and pen, and his theological views made considerable 
progress among the German Reformers. Things were 
so badly managed at Geneva, that the Libertines soon 
dug their own grave, and the true Reformers again got 



66 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

possession of the government. Calvin and Farel were 
recalled, and their reformatory ideas were fully carried 
out in Geneva. While at Strasburg, Calvin had mar- 
ried the widow of an Anabaptist, who had been con- 
verted to his views, and greatly assisted him in his 
work. 

Calvin has been severely criticised on account of his 
harshness at Geneva. To do him justice, we must con- 
sider the age in which he lived, and the condition of 
society in Geneva. The Reformers certainly went to 
extremes ; but in some cases severe methods are re- 
quired. They did not grant that liberty of opinion 
which the spirit of Christianity requires. They some- 
times punished too severely for trivial offenses. They 
cast a shadow over religion itself, which drove many 
into skepticism. Notwithstanding all this, they pro- 
duced the best state of society that Europe has ever 
enjoyed. 

There are two opinions in reference to the character 
of Calvin. One party makes him the greatest of re- 
formers ; the other, a tyrant and fanatic. The truth 
and golden mean is between these extremes. D'Au- 
bigne says : " We venerate Calvin; we love Luther." 

Calvin was a theologian and a lawyer, and his time 
was so much given to the study of God and of law that 
he failed to study humanity. That he lacked in human 
sympathy, no one can for a moment question. The 
condemnation and execution of Servetus will always be 
looked upon as a great disgrace to this celebrated Re- 
former. We must, however, remember the conduct of 
the Libertines in Geneva. They fired guns under Cal- 
vin's window, and disturbed him while lecturing to 
students at the Cathedral. Servetus came to Geneva 



JOHN CALVIN AND THE PRESBYTERIANS. 6j 

as the champion of this party, and the Reformers 
in general were afraid of him. Calvin's conduct in the 
case was not only sanctioned at Geneva, but by the 
leading Reformers of his day. 

Calvin's theology has had a widespread influence, 
and it is largely endorsed by the Presbyterians of the 
world. The following are its chief points : Man is by 
nature guilty and corrupt. The first man was created 
pure, but fell, and was damned, with all his posterity. 
The human race thus became totally depraved, and all 
men were obnoxious to God. Even infants are under 
this condemnation. The natural state of man is hate- 
ful to God, and the only remedy is in Christ. The 
believer is saved by faith in Christ ; but this faith is 
the direct gift of God. Calvin placed faith before re- 
pentance. He taught that God had, from eternity, 
foreordained a portion of the human race to eternal 
life, and another portion to eternal damnation. He 
denied the freedom of the will, so far as man's choice 
has anything to do with his destiny. Such is the 
stern fatalism of Calvinism ; and I believe that it has 
driven many into skepticism. 

John Knox introduced Presbyterianism into Scot- 
land. He was four years older than Calvin, but did 
not commence his work so soon. In fact, he did not 
commence preaching and writing until he was forty 
years old. He was timid, and when informed that the 
church had called him to preach, burst into tears. The 
bloody Mary drove Knox to Geneva, where he came 
in contact with Calvin. He returned to Scotland as 
bold as a lion, and feared not the face of man. He 
had a conversation with Mary Stuart, Queen of Scot- 
land, and his firmness and boldness in defense of 



68 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

Protestantism caused her to weep. Presbyterianism 
was fully established in Scotland. 

In Europe, the titles, Reformed and Presbyterian, 
were both used to designate the disciples of Calvin. 
When they came to this country they spoke different 
languages — English, Dutch, German and French — and 
formed themselves into separate organizations. The 
Reformed Dutch, now the American Reformed, is 
really the oldest Presbyterian Church in America. The 
German Reformed Church was organized by pioneers 
of that faith who had come from the desolated fields of 
Europe. They brought 'with them the Heidelberg 
Catechism, and were, of course, Calvinistic in their 
belief. They were joined by the French Huguenots, 
and emigrants from Switzerland. Until 1792, when 
they formed a General Synod of their own, they were 
closely allied to the Reformed Dutch Church. They 
produced what is called the Mercersburg Theology. 

The first churches bearing the name of Presbyterian 
were organized in this country in the early part of the 
eighteenth century. They were largely composed of 
emigrants from Scotland. The First Presbytery — that 
of Philadelphia — is thought by some to have been or- 
ganized as early as 1705, and the Synod of Philadelphia 
was organized in 1 7 1 7. They adopted the Westminster 
Confession of Faith. In 1837 the Presbyterian Church 
in this country divided into what has been called the 
Old and the New Schools. The occasion was the 
teaching and trial of Albert Barnes. They went to 
law about the property of the church, and the Supreme 
Court of Pennsylvania decided that the Old School was 
entitled to the property of the whole body before the 
division. The war divided both the Old and the New 



JOHN CALVIN AND THE PRESBYTERIANS. 69 

School Presbyterians in the South, and this led to a 
union on the part of those who favored the Southern 
cause, and finally resulted in a union between the Old 
and the New Schools, South. The division, however, 
caused by the war, has never been healed. In 1877 
there was held in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, a 
Pan-Presbyterian Convention, composed of all the great 
Presbyterian bodies in the world. 

The word Presbyterian is derived from the Greek 
Presbuteros, and it literally means an old man. It is 
the word used for elder in the Bible. The Hebrew 
word translated by the Greek Presbuteros can be traced 
back to a patriarchal origin. The words elder and bishop 
are used interchangeably in the New Testament ; so 
Calvin was right in insisting that the bishop of the 
Apostolic Church was only a presbyter. Whatever 
may have been his other errors, John Calvin was not 
far wrong on the subject of church government. 



CHAPTER VII. 

HENRY VIII. AND THE EPISCOPALIANS. 

Henry VIII. , who was the second king of England 
of the Tudor dynasty, was born at Greenwich Palace, 
June 28, 1491, and died January 28, 1547. He was 
the second son of Henry VII. and his wife, Elizabeth 
of York. His father intended that he should become 
the head of the English Church, and was educating 
him for the office of Archbishop of Canterbury ; but 
the death of Arthur, the older son, made Henry the 
heir to the English crown. It is said that the interest 
Henry always took in theological questions was due to 
his early training. Henry VII. was methodical and 
severe, and his son was well educated. Young Henry 
took great interest in the intellectual awakening that 
had come over Europe, and acquired considerable rep- 
utation as a scholar. 

Arthur had married Catherine of Aragon, daughter 
of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. He received with 
her two hundred thousand crowns, and, on the death 
of her husband, her parents requested that she be sent 

home and the money refunded. Henry VII. objected, 

70 



HENRY VIII. AND THE EPISCOPALIANS. 7 1 

and proposed that she be married to the Prince of 
Wales, who afterwards became Henry VIII. Cathe- 
rine, therefore, remained in England during the seven 
years of her widowhood. In 1509 Henry VII. died, 
and at the age of eighteen his son Henry ascended the 
English throne. One of the first acts of his reign was 
to fulfill the contract imposed upon him by his father 
to marry Catherine. In his subsequent career, we have 
some of the results of a forced marriage where the lady 
was too old to be to him a suitable companion. It is 
true that for a number of years he seemed to love her, 
but he could not forget the fact that he was obligated 
to marry without his consent. 

No one could have anticipated evil at the accession 
of Henry. In him appeared to be combined everything 
necessary to a prosperous reign. If all is well that ends 
well, all is not necessarily well that begins well. The 
preceding reign had been clouded by Yorkish rebellions 
and other evils, but it prepared the way for a prosper- 
ous reign of any good monarch. Henry VII. was 
frugal, and had acquired a vast amount of wealth for 
his successor. Henry VIII., therefore, had before 
him everything necessary to a peaceful and prosperous 
reign. Those who hated to see his Lancastrian father 
on the throne, were well pleased to have for their sov- 
ereign a son of Elizabeth of York. In character the 
young king appeared to be everything the people could 
desire. He was handsome, and accomplished in all the 
manly exercises and learning of the times. He was 
ambitious, and appeared anxious to retrieve the old re- 
nown of England. The first twenty years of Henry's 
reign were in the main prosperous. He had raised 
England from a third-rate position to be one of the 



72 



STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 



three leading powers in Europe. If this king had died 
in the middle of his reign, he would have been one of 
the most popular rulers England has ever had. 

Henry was devoted to the church, and was a firm 
friend to the Pope. He actually wrote a book against 
Martin Luther, and, for it, received from Leo X. the 
title of " Defender of the Faith." When the Pope was 
a prisoner of Charles V., Henry formed an alliance 
with Francis of France, his old enemy, for the purpose 
of releasing the Pope from the enthrallment placed 
upon him by the Emperor of Germany. Although 
Henry was immoral, he was religiously superstitious. 
He was an example of a man devotedly attached to a 
creed, and, at the same time, living an impure life. 
It is claimed by historians that Henry had many mis- 
givings about having married his brother's wife, and 
had long contemplated a divorce. Two circumstances 
had specially called his attention to the subject : When 
he sought to arrange a marriage between his daughter 
Mary and Charles of Spain, the states of Castile ob- 
jected to it on the ground that Mary was not legitimate ; 
and, when he sought a French alliance for his daughter, 
the same objection was urged. Henry's superstition 
also began to work upon him. All the children of 
Catherine, except Mary, died in infancy. The king 
thought that the vengeance of heaven was hurled 
against him, because he had his brother's wife. His 
being without an- heir he looked upon as a fulfillment 
of the curse pronounced in the Mosaic law against him 
who married his brother's widow. Another difficulty 
also came up before his mind. Mary was his only heir, 
and, at his death, the king of Scotland might contest 
her legitimacy, and plunge the country into civil war. 



HENRY VIII. AND THE EPISCOPALIANS. 73 

We must give Henry credit for being influenced by 
public as well as private reasons in seeking a divorce 
from Catherine. 

The immediate occasion for the divorce, however, 
was the fact that Henry fell desperately in love with 
Anne Boleyn, a beautiful young lady of noble birth, 
whom the king had met as a maid of honor to the 
queen. Finding her too virtuous to become his mis- 
tress, the king determined to make her his wife. He 
applied to the Pope for a divorce from Catherine, and 
the Pontiff would readily have granted it if he had not 
feared Charles. V., Emperor of Germany. Charles 
was nephew of Catherine, and threatened the Pope 
with vengeance if he granted Henry's request. The 
Pope was in such a dilemma that he could do nothing 
out hesitate, and he kept Henry waiting five years. 
The king, who held his ministers responsible for suc- 
cess, became offended at Cardinal Wolsey because he 
thought the great Cardinal had not been sufficiently 
zealous in his cause. Wolsey, who always looked out for 
self, had doubtless played a double part ; and never did 
so great a man receive in a shorter time so great a fall. 
The great seal of the kingdom was taken from him, and 
given to Sir Thomas More. His property was confis- 
cated, and he was driven from the court. His friends 
mostly forsook him, and, to his proud spirit, such a fall 
was like that of Lucifer. Thomas Cromwell, however, 
adhered to the cause of the fallen Cardinal, and to him 
the following lines of the great Cardinal were addressed, 
as given by Shakespeare in •' Henry VIII." : 

14 Hear me, Cromwell ; 
And — when I am forgotten, as I shall be, 
And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention 



74 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

Of me more shall be heard of, say, I taught thee, 

Say, Wolsey — that once trod the ways of glory, 

And sounded all the depths and shoals of honor — 

Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in ; 

A sure and safe one, though thy master miss'd it. 

Mark but my fall, and that that ruin'd me. 

Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition : 

By that sin fell the angels ; how can man, then, 

The image of his Maker, hope to win by 't ? 

Love thyself last : cherish those hearts that hate thee. 

Corruption wins not more than honesty. 

Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, 

To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not; 

Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's, 

Thy God's, and truth's ; then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell, 

Thou fall'st a blessed martyr." 

Thomas Cranmer was the man who solved the 
problem of the divorce. He was a Protestant, and in 
the main a good man, but was too much a slave to the 
King's will. He studied Luther's writings, and declared 
that he intended to find out which party had the truth. 
He studied the Bible three years without a commen- 
tary, and was called the Scripturist. As University 
preacher, he said to his hearers : " Christ sends us to 
the Scriptures, and not to the church." When the 
divorce question came up, he maintained that it was 
not a question for the Pope to decide, but what the 
Bible taught about a man having his brother's widow. 
He suggested that all Roman negotiations end, and the 
question be submitted to the Universities. This was 
done, but the Universities did not agree. Calvin's 
opinion was asked, and he decided against the king. 
Finally Cranmer's views about the Bible and Cromwell's 
idea of the supremacy of Parliament prevailed. The 
king revolted against the Pope, and the clergy had to 
submit to his terms. In 1534 Parliament declared the 



HENRY VIII. AND THE EPISCOPALIANS. 75 

king to be supreme head on earth of the Church of 
England. The king, instead of the Pope, was placed 
at the head of the English Church, and the following 
prayer was offered to the king by the convocation : 
" May it please your Highness to ordain in the present 
Parliament that the obedience of your Highness and 
the people be withdrawn from the See of Rome." 
Henry had married Anne Boleyn even before his di- 
vorce was granted, which shows that conscience was 
not the real motive with the king. 

While the King was at heart a bigoted Catholic, 
circumstances forced him to court the Protestants. 
They, however, hated him, and Luther had said, in 
reference to his book : " When God wants a fool, he 
turns a king into a theological writer." There were 
some in England who could not take the oath of 
Henry's supremacy in the Church of England. The 
most prominent among these were Bishop Fisher and 
Sir Thomas More. Sir Thomas was regarded as one of 
the best and greatest of men. He was willing to admit 
that Parliament had the right to arrange the succession, 
and that Elizabeth was legitimate, but this would not 
satisfy the king. Fisher and More were executed in 
1535, and all Europe was shocked at the outrage. It 
even broke up the alliance which Cromwell was form- 
ing with the Protestant Princes. 

Henry appeared to be drifting towards the Protest- 
ants until the year 1539, when certain events placed 
him largely in the hands of the Romanists. Queen 
Anne was a Protestant, and while she retained the 
affections of the King, he seemed more inclined to the 
Protestant cause. He, however, got tired of her, and 
in order to get rid of her, sent her to the block. 



,6 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

Jane Seymour, his next wife, had also died, and 
Cromwell had arranged for a marriage between the 
King and Anne of Cleves, a German princess. Henry, 
however, was so displeased with her that he imme- 
diate!}' discarded her, and had Cromwell executed. 
Cromwell's motives were good, and, had he succeeded, 
he might have formed an alliance against the Pope and 
Spain that would have averted the Thirty Years' War. 
While the King for a time persecuted the Protest- 
ants, in 1540 Cranmer regained his influence, and 
much more toleration was shown. Another thing 
favorable to the Protestant cause, was the fact that 
Catherine Parr, the King's last wife, was a strong 
friend to the Reformers. She was the writer of a work 
called "The Lamentation of a Sinner," and also had 
the commentary of Erasmus translated and placed in 
the churches. While Henry VIII. was certainly one 
of the basest of English kings, he did much to advance 
the cause of the Reformation. His rupture with the 
Pope, the abolition of an antiquated monasticism, and 
the Reformation of the Church, laid the foundation of 
England's greatness in the reign of his daughter 
Elizabeth. 

Everything went well for the Protestant cause dur- 
ing the reign of Edward VI., the successor of Henry 
VIII. At the death of Edward, Mary, the daughter 
of Henry VIII., by his first wife, came to the throne. 
She was, of course, a rigid Catholic, and could not for- 
get the disgrace of her mother. She promised to give 
the people liberty in religious matters, but her zeal for 
Popery soon began to manifest itself. Her bloc 
deeds, however, did not becrin until after her marria z 
with Philip of Spain. A parliament was selected to 



HENRY VIII. AND THE EPISCOPALIANS. 'JJ 

suit the Queen, and all acts making the English sover- 
eign the supreme head of the church were abolished. 
Then the bloody work began, and some of the best 
men in England died at the hands of the executioner. 
Latimer, Ridley and Cranmer were burned at the 
stake. Latimer said to Ridley : ' ' Be of good comfort, 
Master Ridley, and play the man ; we shall this day, 
by God's grace, light such a candle in England as, I 
trust, shall never be put out. " In 1558 the "Bloody 
Mary " died, and her whole system fell with a crash. 
The English people had no further use for her or her 
papal associates. Their experience with Rome had 
been such that they had no desire for any further alli- 
ance. 

Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII., by Anne 
Boieyn, succeeded the " Bloody Mary" to the English 
throne. She, like her mother, espoused the Protestant 
cause, and she renounced all allegiance to the Pope. 
Considering the way in which she had been treated, 
she was very lenient towards the papal party. Her 
hand was sought by Philip of Spain, and others, but 
she determined, for the good of her people, always to 
remain single. She wanted to keep England entirely 
free from all continental complications. Prom the early 
years of her reign, Elizabeth was haunted by the claims 
of Mary Stewart, Queen of Scotland, who regarded the 
English Queen as illegitimate and occupying the throne 
to which she was entitled. The Catholic party sup- 
ported the claims of Mary Stuart, and constantly plot- 
ted against the English throne. Mary continued to 
enter into these plots until her death. Elizabeth has 
been blamed for executing Mary Stuart, but it is diffi- 
cult to see how she could do otherwise. The whole 



yS STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

Catholic world was angry with her and with her father 
and mother before her ; so a great alliance was formed 
against her, at the head of which was Philip II. of 
Spain. He fitted out the Invincible Armada, and had 
no doubt in his own mind about his being able to sub- 
jugate England. The English fleet and a storm com- 
pletely destroyed the Aimada; so England was no 
longer in danger of foreign invasion. She rapidly be- 
came the leading power in Europe, and the age of 
Elizabeth may appropriately be called her golden age. 
Wordsworth thus speaks of it : 

" For 't is the sunshine now of zeal, 
And faith and hope are in their prime, 
In great Eliza's golden time." 

The Protestant Episcopal Church of the United 
States is really the Church of England in America. 
Of course there are some changes to suit the difference 
in political situations. We have here the High Church 
and Low Church, the same as in England. The High 
Church represents Catholicism and the Low Church 
Protestantism. At a recent Episcopal convention in 
Louisville, Ky. , the celebrated Phillips Brooks made 
an address, in which he did not appear to regard with 
much respect the Episcopal doctrine of apostolic suc- 
cession. Also, at a late convention of the Disciples of 
Christ in the city of Indianapolis, Ind., there was com- 
mitted to its consideration a letter from the Secretary 
of Commission on Christian Unity of the General Con- 
vention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, together 
with the Declaration of the House of Bishops, on the 
question of Christian unity. These declarations show 
that there is not much desire on the part of Episco- 
palians to go back to Rome. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE GREATEST POLITICAL STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. 

/. — Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots. 

The name Huguenot is of doubtful origin. Some 
derive it from one of the gates of the city of Tours, 
called Hugons, at which the Protestants had some of 
their first meetings ; some derive it from the word hue- 
nos, with which their protest commenced ; others derive 
it from their hiding in secret places and appearing at 
night, like King Hugon, the great hobgoblin of the 
French. The Huguenots represented the best society 
in France. To them belonged the thinking and pro- 
gressive part of society. They made the best scholars, 
the best soldiers, the greatest statesmen, that France 
produced. The Catholic party was, however, determ- 
ined to exterminate them, if possible. 

In 1572 the Catholics were greatly exasperated at 

the marriage of Marguerite to Henry of Navarre, and 

they immediately made plots for the destruction of the 

Protestants. On the 226. of August the conspirators 

struck the first blow. The Duke of Guise hired an 

79 



SO STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

assassin to fire upon the venerable Coligny, as he was 
returning from the court to his lodgings, and he was 
severely wounded. The king visited the wounded ad- 
miral, and assured him that his assailants should be 
brought to justice. Coligny informed the king of the 
evil designs of Catherine, and the pernicious effects of 
her misgovernment. In case he would deprive her of 
power, he promised the support of the Huguenots. 
Charles went away, greatly influenced by this interview ; 
but evil counsel finally prevailed, and the most dis- 
graceful massacre of modern times took place. 

Early in the morning of August 24, 1572, on the 
feast of St. Bartholomew, at the sounding of the signal 
bell, the work of death commenced. The Duke of 
Guise soon had Coligny put to death. The Huguenots 
had no arms, and were unable to resist. The wicked 
Catherine viewed the massacre from her palace windows. 
The fearful slaughter went on a number of days ; and 
the earth was stained with the best blood of France, to 
the eternal disgrace of that great country. It is esti- 
mated that seventy thousand persons perished. Never 
did savages carry on more wholesale slaughter, for no 
attention was paid to age, sex or condition. 

Xo sooner had the excitement of the massacre 
-ubsided, than Catherine and her associate conspirators 
saw that they had committed a great political blunder, 
and they tried to turn all the blame on the Duke of 
Guise, but he would not bear it. They, however, in- 
duced the vacillating king to declare before the French 
Parliament that he was responsible for it; that it was a 
political and not a religious act, and that he did it to 
suppress a conspiracy on the part of the Huguenots. 
The Pope's nuncio immediately pronounced it false in 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. 8 1 

every respect. Charles IX. never got over the effects 
of the terrible massacre. It produced in him a nervous 
affection which took him to his grave. He saw visions 
of his victims in the air, and was constantly haunted by 
a terrible remorse. The Roman pontiff so rejoiced 
over the massacre that he had Rome illuminated ; a 
Te Deum was sung, and he and the Cardinals assisted. 
He also had a medal struck to commemorate the event. 
When Philip of Spain heard of the slaughter, he 
laughed for the first and last time in life. Well might 
he laugh, for the best soldiers of France had been 
slain. 

The massacre was a terrible blow to the Protestant 
cause in France, but it did not destroy it. The Prince 
of Conde managed to escape from court, and he headed 
the Huguenot army. Henry of Navarre escaped the 
massacre by renouncing the Protestant cause ; but, as 
soon as he could get away from Paris, he again became 
a Huguenot. He was a great general, and soon led 
the Huguenots to victory. He compelled Henry III., 
who succeeded Charles IX., to make very humiliating 
concessions to Protestantism. The Catholics were very 
much chagrined at this, and a league was formed, with 
the Duke of Guise at its head. A secret treaty was 
also signed by the chiefs of the league and the king of 
Spain. The principal object was the extermination of 
Protestantism in France and the Netherlands. The 
king of France was humiliated by the league, and he 
determined to rid himself of the Guises ; and, as assas- 
sination was the only way, he determined to adopt that 
way. The Duke of Guise was murdered by the king's 
attendants in the castle of Blois, and his body was 
brutally kicked by the king. When the king saw his 



82 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

mother, he said: "Now, madam, I am once more 
king of France, for I have put to death the king of 
Paris." The bitterness of Rome and of the league was 
so great toward the king that he was required, by the 
nature of the situation, to ally himself with the king of 
Navarre and the Huguenots. The alliance having been 
completed, the two kings, in April, 1589, laid seige to 
Paris. The league, fearing the consequences, determ- 
ined to find an assassin for the kings. They soon found 
one in an ignorant Dominican monk, who thought the 
act would be highly pleasing to heaven. He obtained 
an interview with the king of France, and immediately 
stabbed him. The murderer was soon killed by the 
royal guard. Henry lived long enough to acknowledge 
the king of Navarre as his successor, and caused the 
French nobles to swear allegiance to him. 

Although Henry of Navarre was the rightful heir 
to the French throne, it was difficult for him to procure 
the recognition of the French army before Paris. The 
nobles who had sworn allegiance in the presence of the 
dying Henry III., were not much inclined to acknowl- 
edge a Protestant as king of France. They plainly told 
him that he must become Catholic in order to become 
their king. He made such concessions to the Catholics 
that the Huguenots withdrew from his cause. Yet the 
Catholics would not unite upon him. The result was 
a bloody war. The king finally determined to give 
peace to his kingdom by the sacrifice of his religious 
convictions ; so he made a public profession of the 
Catholic religion, and was received into the communion 
of the Roman Catholic Church. There was now no 
one to dispute his right to the French crown, and he 
was firmly seated upon the throne of France. Henry 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. 83 

-did not forget his old friends, the Huguenots, and was 
determined that they should have their rights. In or- 
der to effect this, he signed the famous Edict of Nantes, 
by which he guaranteed to all his subjects equality and 
liberty in all religious worship. The Protestants were 
admitted to the same civil rights as the Catholics. The 
Edict of Nantes was registered by the Parliament of 
Paris in 1599, and it secured peace and prosperity to 
France for nearly one hundred years. 

Henry next determined to humiliate the House of 
Austria, and rearrange the European States, granting 
perfect liberty to Catholics, Lutherans and Reformers. 
He wanted six hereditary monarchies, six elective 
monarchies, and three republics, to be embraced in the 
Confederacy. In this way there would be an equilib- 
rium between the Great Powers, and it could be pre- 
served by the federal council, the decision of which 
would be final in any quarrel between the States. 

Henry hoped by this to weaken Spain and humble 
Austria, both of which powers were too strong for the 
welfare of Europe. He also intended to put an end to 
religious wars, and establish a system of international 
law for all Europe. As he moved forward for the accom- 
plishment of this wonderful purpose, he was assassin- 
ated, doubtless at the instigation of Austria and Spain. 

In Henry IV. France evidently lost her greatest 
king. He was a great warrior, a profound statesman, 
and a wise and a vigorous ruler. He had his personal 
faults, it is true, and his character was marred by follies 
and vices of a very serious nature, yet with all his 
faults he was generous and forgiving. He was willing 
to do right by both Catholic and Protestant. He was 
strictly opposed to everything that was narrow and big- 



84 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

oted. While he greatly lacked in seriousness of re- 
ligious conviction, he had a high appreciation of the 
religious rights of his people. In the history of the 
Reformation, he should be placed as one of the first 
advocates of complete liberty of conscience in religious 
matters. Viewed from the stand-point of the State, 
history records the name of no ruler greater than King 
Henry of Navarre. 

77. — Gustavus Adolphus and the Thirty Years' War. 

Gustavus Adolphus, the greatest of Swedish kings, 
was born in Stockholm, December 9, 1594, and was 
killed at the battle of Lutzen, November 16, 1632. He 
was the son of Charles IX., and the sixth king of the 
line of Vasa. His father was the youngest son of Gus- 
tavus Vasa, and had been chosen king on the exclusion 
of his nephew, Sigismund, king of Poland, who had 
offended the Swedes by professing the Roman Catholic 
religion. Sigismund made an alliance with Russia, in 
order that he might be able to recover the Swedish 
crown. Charles IX. died October 30, 161 1, and left 
his son Gustavus Adolphus with two wars on his hands. 
He had to fight the united forces of the Poles and Rus- 
sians, and also settle an old trouble with the Danes. 

Gustavus Adolphus was merely a boy when his 
father died, and the enemies of Sweden thought they 
would have no difficulty in bringing him to terms. Like 
Alexander the Great, he proved himself to be more 
successful than even the greatest of his warlike ances- 
tors. He soon settled the trouble with the Danes, and 
with the best part of his army invaded the territory of 
the Russians. The Czar was soon willing to accept al- 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. S$ 

most any terms Gustavus dictated, and the Swedish 
king was left with his force to prosecute the Polish 
war. The war would soon have ended had it not been 
for Ferdinand II., emperor of Germany, who now took 
part in the contest. Gustavus was placed under the 
ban of the empire, and 10,000 men, under Wallenstein, 
were sent to oppose him. The Swedish arms, however, 
•continued victorious, and a truce for six years was con- 
cluded in September, 1629, on terms most favorable to 
Gustavus. The Swedish king did not forget the injury 
done him by the emperor, and, during the Thirty 
Years' War, he thoroughly avenged himself. 

Soon after the death of Martin Luther, the great 
political struggle between the middle ages and modern 
^civilization commenced. The sixteenth century marked 
the theological contest between the old and the new, 
between the middle ages and modern thought ; the sev- 
enteenth was the century of political conflict. The the- 
ologians could not settle the dispute, and political rulers 
thought they would settle it by force of arms. Thus 
commenced the Thirty Years' War, which almost de- 
populated Germany. The twenty-seven years' war be- 
tween Athens and Sparta was nothing to compare to it. 

Ferdinand II., the bitterest enemy of the Protes- 
tant cause in Europe, became emperor of Germany in 
1619, and he immediately visited Maximilian of Bavaria, 
to obtain from him help, in order to crush out the Prot- 
estant cause in Bohemia. After he should have accom- 
plished this, he expected to attack it in all other parts 
of the empire. The Bohemians were, however, too quick 
for the emperor, and a Bohemian army under Count 
Thurn invaded Austria, and laid siege to Vienna, where 
the emperor was at the time holding his court. If 



S6 



STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 



Count Thurn had not delayed, He might have taken 
Viei 



jnna, and wrested the imperial crown from the House 
of Hapsburg. He was, however, obliged to raise the 
siege, and hasten to Bohemia in order to protect 
Prague from an imperial army. 

The Bohemians renounced their allegiance to Ferdi- 
nand II., and elected in his place Frederick V., son-in- 
law of James I. of England. They liked his personal 
qualities, and thought that his father-in-law would assist 
him in the contest. They made an unwise choice, 
Frederick wasted his time in idle pomp and luxury, in- 
stead of putting forth every effort at preparation to 
meet the army which the emperor was certain to send 
into Bohemia. James I. of England was too selfish to 
run any risk, even in defending his own children. 
Frederick alienated the best generals in the Bohemian 
army, and, with such a king, it was certain that Bohe- 
mia could not stand against her enemies. The country 
was soon overrun by the forces of the Catholic league, 
and Ferdinand proceeded to take bloody vengeance 
upon it. The Protestant leaders were executed, the 
clergy were banished, the tombs of the Reformers were 
destroyed and their bones burned. The Roman Cath- 
olic religion was established by law, and Protestant 
worship was strictly forbidden. The character of Bo- 
hemia was entirely changed ; it was no longer the seat 
of learning and intelligence, and its commerce was de- 
stroyed by the murder and exile of the Protestants. 
The emperor could not, however, destroy Protestantism 
in Bohemia. It there lingered, ready to proclaim itself 
at the dawn of a better day. 

The Palatinate was conquered by Count Tilly, and 
was transferred with the electoral title to Duke Maxi- 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. 87 

milian. The Catholic forces destroyed the library of 
Heidelberg, one of the most valuable in the world. 
Many of the rare manuscripts were used as a substitute 
for straw to stable the horses of Tilly's cavalry. It is 
fortunate, however, that a part was preserved by Duke 
Maximilian, and presented to the Pope for the library 
of the Vatican. The army of the league was disbanded 
in 1622, and it appeared to most persons that the em- 
peror had triumphed over all his enemies. It was, 
however, a mistake ; for the Thirty Years' War was 
only properly begun. 

The Protestant princes of continental Europe now 
began to see the wicked designs of Ferdinand, and 
they regretted their indifference in the early part of the 
war. They determined to unite all their efforts in op- 
position to the emperor. The king of Denmark, 
Christian IV., tried to form a league of the Northern 
powers, but was defeated in his efforts by the selfish 
indecision of James I. of England. He succeeded, 
however, in uniting a number of the German princes, 
and he accepted the command of the united forces. The 
success of Ferdinand thus far had not been gained by 
the imperial forces, but by those of the Catholic league. 
The emperor was now anxious to have an army of his 
own ; and, in order to secure sufficient means, he en- 
tered into an agreement with a rich nobleman by the 
name of Wallenstein. Wallenstein. was to raise the 
army, and command it ; but it had to receive its pay 
entirely from the plunder of conquered countries. An 
army of 30,000 men was soon raised, and more desper- 
ate men never waged war. Wallenstein became a great 
general, and he was one of the most infamous robbers 
of Europe. There was one thing very fortunate for 



88 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

Germany and the Protestant cause at that time, and that 
was the jealousy which existed between Wallenstein 
and Tilly. They would not cooperate, else the Protest- 
ants might have been crushed before the celebrated 
Swede entered the field. 

One of the most remarkable characters in history 
now becomes a leader in the Thirty Years' War. We 
have already mentioned the cause which prevented his 
taking a part before this time. Wallenstein had respect 
for the skill of Gustavus Adolphus, and proposed to 
divide Denmark with him ; but the Swedish king re- 
fused to consider the proposition, and immediately sent 
assistance to the king of Denmark. The carelessness 
of the German prince was such, that the Protestant 
cause would evidently have perished, had it not been 
for the king of Sweden. Gustavus Adolphus evi- 
dently wanted to avenge the injury done him by the 
Emperor in assisting the king of Poland in his ef- 
forts to obtain the Swedish crown. Wallenstein was 
also trying to obtain control of the Baltic Sea, and thus 
injure the commercial interests of Sweden. While the 
king of Sweden had private wrongs to avenge, we be- 
lieve his love for the Protestant cause was his principal 
reason for taking a part in the great struggle. 

Gustavus left the care of the kingdom of Sweden to 
the Chancellor Oxenstiern, and, having presented to 
the States assembled at Stockholm his daughter Chris- 
tina as the heiress of the throne, he set sail from his na- 
tive country with an army of 10,000 men, and landed 
at the mouth of the Oder in June, 1630. In less than 
one month, he had conquered almost the whole of 
Pomerania. Although France was a Catholic country, 
her envy of Austria caused her to support the cause of 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. 89 

Gustavus Adolphus. She was bent upon the destruc- 
tion of the Austrian power in Germany. The Swedish 
force was small, and the emperor for a time paid no at- 
tention to it. Gustavus, by way of reproach, was 
called the "Snow King," and it was not thought that 
he would venture far from the shores of the Baltic. 
They were, however, mistaken in the material of the 
Swedish army. It was composed of God-fearing men, 
and Gustavus had the best disciplined troops in Europe. 
He taught them a new system of tactics, and their im- 
petuosity was such that nothing could stand before 
them. In about eight months from the time of their 
landing, the Swedish army had taken eighty fortified 
cities. 

The Protestant princes in Germany were, for a long 
time, afraid to take any active part with the Swedes 
against the emperor ; and Gustavus was compelled to 
leave the city of Magdeburg, which would have readily 
joined him, to be sacked by the army of Tilly. The 
barbarity of the imperial troops was such, that the 
elector of Saxony was induced to take a decided stand 
against the emperor. Saxony was invaded by Tilly, 
with 15,000 men. The elector joined Gustavus with 
18,000 men. On the 7th of September, 1631, the 
great battle of Leipzig was fought between Count Tilly 
and Gustavus Adolphus. The Swedes were entirely 
victorious, and the imperial army was so completely 
routed that scarcely 2,000 of its troops retreated in 
good order. Tilly lost all his artillery, and his troops 
were completely demoralized. The emperor began to 
change his views in reference to the character of the 
** Snow King." 

The danger which now threatened the Emperor 



90 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

Ferdinand was very great. Count Tilly, his greatest 
general, was killed in a battle with the Swedes. He 
had no one capable of opposing the great Gustavus. 
The only and most humiliating thing he could do was 
to recall Wallenstein. The haughty noble accepted 
only on the condition that the emperor should give no 
order to the army, and that no Austrian prince be with 
the army. Wallenstein intended, if successful against 
the Swedes, to bring the emperor to his feet, and then 
seize the imperial crown. Wallenstein soon collected 
an immense army; and, with the exception of Gustavus 
Adolphus, he was the greatest general of his day. 

The Swedish king could have taken the capital of 
Austria, but Wallenstein was so sorely pressing the 
Saxons that Gustavus gave up his own interests to assist 
the elector in his dire extremity. By a rapid march, 
the Swedish army reached Lutzen on the 15th of No- 
vember, 1632. Wallenstein held a strong position on 
the plain of Lutzen, and resolved to await the Swedish 
attack. The Swedes spent the night before in prepara- 
tion, and at 10 o'clock the next morning they knelt in 
prayer. They sang Luther's hymn, and then one com- 
posed by the king. The whole Swedish army charged 
the enemy, Gustavus leading the right wing, and Bern- 
hard of Weimar the left. The Imperialists were driven 
from their intrenchments, but received such reinforce- 
ment that the Swedes were driven back in confusion. 
Gustavus rallied them, and in the next attack he was 
killed. When his horse galloped riderless back into 
the ranks of the Swedes, they were roused to fury. 
Led by Bernhard of Weimar, they dashed forward 
with an impetuosity that drove the imperial army from 
the field. Wallenstein was compelled to retreat, and 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. gj 

leave all his artillery in the hands of the Swedes. The 
victory was dearly purchased in the loss of Gustavus 
Adolphus. Protestantism lost one of its purest and 
truest heroes, and the * * first and only just conqueror 
that the world has produced." 

After the death of Gustavus Adolphus, the Protest- 
ant powers of Europe invested Count Oxenstiern, the 
regent of Sweden, with the same power that Gustavus 
had held as the protector of Protestantism. In 1648 
the Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War. 
By the terms of the treaty the emperor granted relig- 
ious liberty to Germany. How much better it would 
have been if he had done this without shedding so 
much blood ! It is estimated that about two-thirds of 
the German people perished during the war. The 
whole country had been laid waste, the principal cities 
destroyed, trade ruined, and poverty was almost uni- 
versal. Germany lost much, but she emerged from the 
war with one priceless gem, and that was religious lib- 
erty, which has made her great. 



III. — Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' War. 

Frederick the Great, the third king of Prussia, was 
born in Berlin, January 24, 17 1 2, and died near Pots- 
dam, August 17, 1786. He was the son of Frederick 
William I. and the Princess Dorothea, daughter of 
George I. of England. Up to the age of twenty he 
was subjected to cruel treatment by his father. The 
father of the great Frederick was not himself destitute 
of ability, though his character was disfigured by some 
loathsome vices and marked by some very startling ec- 
centricities. He was a correct and safe business man, 



92 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

and managed the finances of Prussia with great economy. 
He was the first who formed the design of making 
Prussia a leading power in Europe. This he hoped to 
do by means of a thoroughly disciplined army. While 
the king was parsimonious in his family and govern- 
mental expenses, no amount was too great for him to 
pay for tall recruits. He had determined to form a 
brigade of giants, and almost every country was ran- 
sacked to find men above the average height. A 
Prussian ambassador found a tall Irishman in London, 
and paid him more than his own salary to enter the 
Prussian army. Frederick William I. was averse to 
war, for he had become so attached to his soldiers that 
he held on to them as a miser would hold on to a 
dollar. He left his successor a full treasury and a 
splendid army, and he had a successor who prepared to 
test the strength of this army to its greatest extent. 

Frederick the Great was greatly influenced in early 
life by the conduct of his father.. One extreme is apt 
to lead to another. The extreme rigidity of the father 
led to early dissipation on the part of the son. Young 
Frederick had been chiefly educated by French refu- 
gees, and he formed a strong passion for French litera- 
ture. His father strictly forbade the study of Latin, 
and the French was the only foreign language he un- 
derstood. The persecution of his father on account of 
his love for French literature made him love it the 
more. There was at that time a fearful tendency to 
infidelity on the part of the French. It was the age of 
Voltaire, who became the most noted infidel of modern 
times. The young prince was greatly influenced by 
this character of literature. The reconciliation between 
him and his father, doubtless, had a salutary influence 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. Q$ 

over the reign of Frederick the Great. The old man 
wept before his death, and showed deep affection for 
his son. It naturally caused the young prince to re- 
flect upon his own misdoings, and determine to be a 
king worthy of his paternal ancestor. He was twenty- 
eight years old when his father died, and in vigorous 
health. His character had been misunderstood by his 
countrymen and the world. Some thought him a mere 
sensualist, and others thought his reign would be one 
of great moderation. Both classes were mistaken. He 
possessed elements of character which made him one 
of the greatest generals and rulers in the world. He 
took all the departments of government into his own 
hands, sought counsel of no one, and administered 
everything according to his own will. Prussia soon felt 
the influence of his vigorous policy. The king thought 
it his mission to elevate Prussia, and this could only be 
done by the acquisition of territory. He soon wrested 
Silesia from Maria Theresa, the Austrian queen, and 
held it with a grip that never let it go. In the early 
wars of Frederick he was, doubtless, to blame ; but he 
soon became the champion of a cause which could not 
fail to enlist the sympathies of all lovers of political 
and religious liberty. 

Maria Theresa never forgot the wrongs she received 
at the hands of Frederick. When she was young and 
delicate, and had just been left an orphan, he robbed 
her of her territory. She wanted revenge, and determ- 
ined to have it at all hazards. Silesia had not only 
been wrested from the House of Austria, but also from 
the Church of Rome. It is true that the Prussian king 
granted religious liberty to all ; but this was not suf- 
ficient to satisfy the superstitious queen. Bigotry is 



94 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

not satisfied with equality; it must have ascendency. 
She looked upon her enemy as the enemy of God ; and 
made it the great object of her life to recover Silesia, 
and humble the House of Hohenzollern. She toiled 
for many years with indefatigable zeal to accomplish 
her object. She was like the goddess who tired out 
her immortal horses in her work of combining the na- 
tions against Troy. Frederick did not think that she 
<:ould succeed, on account of the difficulty of uniting 
the House of Bourbon and the House of Hapsburg in 
her enterprise. Her religious zeal finally overcame 
all difficulties, and a great European alliance was formed 
against Prussia. 

The enemies of Frederick were strong enough to 
attack him openly, but they wanted to add to their 
other advantages the advantage of surprise. But he 
had been secretly informed of these alliances, and was 
ready for the contest. The dangers which threatened 
him brought out the greatest qualities of his nature to 
the highest perfection, and he determined, since he had 
to fight, to get the advantage which would arise from 
being the first in the field. He immediately marched 
into Saxony with an army of sixty thousand men. 
Thus commenced, in 1756, the Seven Years' War. 
The Austrian army, which was sent to relieve the 
Saxons, was defeated, and Frederick completely over- 
ran Saxony. The enemies of Frederick now exerted 
themselves with great vigor to drive him out of Saxony. 
The princes of Germany were called upon by the Diet 
of the empire to attack him as the disturber of Europe. 
The charge was not true ; for although Frederick had 
been the first to draw the sword, he had done so this 
time in self-defense. He had to meet the armies of 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. 95 

Austria, France, Russia, Sweden and nearly all of the 
German States. The Duke of Cumberland, the eldest 
living son of the king of England, collected on the 
Rhine a force of German troops to assist the Prussian 
King. With this addition to his forces, Frederick was 
not able to bring into the field more than half the 
number he had to fight. He did not underrate the 
force against him, but hoped that his army would make 
up in discipline and efficiency what it lacked in numbers. 
The combination against him was so powerful that many 
of his friends feared that he would be crushed. No 
such union of the continental powers had been seen 
before in ages. In one week a less formidable combi- 
nation conquered the province of Venice, when Venice 
was at the height of her glory. The confederacy 
which bowed the haughty Louis the Fourteenth to the 
very dust, was not so powerful as was this. The 
mighty empire of Napoleon the First was subjugated 
by a combination less formidable than that formed 
against Prussia. 

The odds against which Frederick contended were 
not before known in war. He ruled only five millions 
of people, while the countries against which He con- 
tended had a population of more than one hundred 
millions. The factions and discontent in the dominions 
in which he ruled were equally as great as in the coun- 
tries leagued against him. The kingdom of Prussia 
was so situated that it was very difficult to defend it 
against the allied armies. They could attack him from 
all sides. His territory appeared so situated as to give 
the invaders the best opportunities. There was scarcely 
a soldier or politician in Europe who did not expect 
Prussia to be completely prostrated. Even Frederick 



§6 struggles of the church. 

himself could not fail to fear very serious consequences. 
There was, however, a chance, and he determined to 
make the best of it. His enemies were very much 
scattered, and belonged to different nationalities. He 
thought, if he could hold cut. his enemies would divide 
among themselves, and Prussia would be free. The 
confederate nations were in deb:, while the revenue of 
Frederick was not encumbered by deb:, but exceeded 
the ordinary outlay in the time of peace. The Prus- 
sian army was small compared with the immense hosts 
of the enemy ; but it was by far the best drilled army 
in Europe. In the army of the allies there was jealousy 
and dissension, while in Frederick's army there was 
that unit>* which results from a strong dictatorship. 
Frederick hoped that judgment, genius, resolution, 
srity of movement and good luck would make up 
for the odds against him. At any rate, he was de- 
termined to conquer or die. 

rhe world has produced no greater military hero 
than Frederick II. of Prussia. From that stand-point 
he is justly entitled to the appellation of the Great. 
He maintained a contest for seven years against three 
great powers, the weakest of which had more than 
three times his resources. At the beginning of No- 
vember, 1757, the net appeared completly closed around 
Frederick. He was driven to such extremity that he 
contemplated suicide ; but his true nature soon asserted 
itself. The Russians were spreading devastation in his 
eastern provinces ; Silesia was overrun by the Aus- 
trians ; a great French army was also advancing, and 
Berlin had been plundered by the Croatians. From 
this situation Frederick extricated himself with daz- 
zling glory in about one month. He first defeated 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. gj 

the French at Rosback, and took seven thousand pris- 
oners. Thus victorious in the West, he next turned 
his arms towards Silesia. At Leuthen, with forty thou- 
sand men, he met an Austrian army numbering sixty 
thousand. The king fully realized the importance of 
this battle, and took the necessary measures to inspire 
his soldiers with the greatest enthusiasm. He convoked 
his officers, and addressed them with great force and 
pathos. He then directed them to address their men 
in a similar manner. His soldiers never fought better 
than in that battle, and the genius of Frederick was 
never more conspicuous. Napoleon pronounced the 
battle of Leuthen a masterpiece. The Austrians were 
completely defeated, and lost thirty-seven thousand 
men. The fame of Frederick filled the world, and 
officers from other countries wanted to enlist in the 
Prussian army, in order to learn military science from 
the greatest general of the day. In no one thing was 
Frederick greater than in disaster. Defeat brought out 
his genius, and his resources where there appeared to 
be no hope were perfectly marvelous. 

The withdrawal of the celebrated Pitt from the 
English ministry was a severe blow to Frederick. Pitt 
was the greatest statesman of his day, and had been a 
faithful ally to Frederick. Pitt's successor was a Tory, 
and bitterly opposed to the Prussian cause. The death, 
however, of the Empress of Russia, caused Russia to 
withdraw from the confederacy ; for the king of the 
Russians was an admirer of Frederick, and sent an army 
to assist him. Finally political matters so changed in 
Europe that Austria and Prussia were left to fight it 
out alone, and Austria concluded that she had better 
make peace with the king of Prussia. The treaty of 



98 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

Hubertsburg, which was signed in February, 1763, 
ended the Seven Years' War, and Frederick retained 
every foot of ground that he had at the beginning of 
the contest. 

The result of the Seven Years' War was a great 
change in European politics. Prussia became the rival 
of Austria for ascendency in Germany, and the ques- 
tion has received a practical solution in our day. The 
policy of Frederick has made Prussia one of the great- 
est powers in Europe ; and the spirit with which he in- 
spired his soldiers rested upon the heroes of Sedan. 
The ascendency of Prussia also brought about a change 
in European literature. French sensualism had been 
the rage, but Lessing, Klopstock, Goethe, and others, 
introduced a more sterling age. Kant, Fichte, Schel- 
ling, and others, formed an intellectual phalanx against 
the French sensualistic school. While Frederick him- 
self was too skeptical, he became one of the greatest 
defenders of Protestantism. The destruction of his 
kingdom would have been a death-blow to the Protest- 
ant cause in continental Europe. Pope Clement XIII. 
saw this, and gave all the weight of his authority in 
favor of Maria Theresa against the heretic Prussian 
king. He bestowed special favors upon Marshal Daun 
as the champion of the faith. Frederick was a decided 
advocate of religious liberty, and would defend the 
Catholics in its enjoyment, the same as he would the 
Protestants. His triumphs had much to do with the 
spirit of liberty now recognized by the different coun- 
tries of Europe. Had it not been for the elevation of 
Prussia, Victor Emmanuel could never have entered 
the gates of the Eternal City. Prussia is still recog- 
nized as the champion of Protestantism. 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. 99 

IV. — Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth of 

England. 

Cromwell was bom at Huntingdon, England, April 
25, 1599. When Lord Bacon was a boy, Elizabeth 
asked his age, and was delighted with his response, 
"Two years younger than your majesty's happy 
reign." Cromwell could claim one year in advance of 
his century. Before his death, however, he showed 
himself to be far in advance of his day and generation. 
Robert Cromwell, the father of Oliver, was the second 
son of Sir Henry Cromwell, who, on account of his 
munificence, was called the Golden Knight. Oliver, on 
his father's side, was related to Thomas Cromwell, who 
became noted during the reign of Henry VIII. He 
was a great statesman, a zealous reformer, and the 
principal man in bringing out an early translation of 
the Bible, yet known as Cromwell's Bible. This is the 
man to whom Shakespeare makes Wolsey say : 

" Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition ; 
By that sin fell the angels. 

O Cromwell, Cromwell, 
Had I but served my God with half the zeal 
I served my king, he would not, in my age, 
Have left me naked to mine enemies." 

The mother of Cromwell was Elizabeth Stewart, 
who was related to the royal family of Scotland. So 
Oliver Cromwell was related to Charles I. 

Although the Cromwell family was noted for its 
wealth, the father of Oliver was quite poor. His 
brother Oliver, for whom the great Oliver was named, 
had inherited, according to the English law, all the 
paternal possessions. He lived at Hinchinbrook, near 



ICO STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

Huntingdon, in great splendor, and was prepared to 
entertain the greatest nobles. In fact, he had enter- 
tained three of the English monarchs. Young Oliver 
spent much of his time with his uncle, and there are 
many interesting anecdotes told of his childhood. It 
is claimed that, when he was a babe, a monkey carried 
him from his cradle to the roof of a house ; but brought 
him down, and placed him back as gently in his cradle 
as could his mother. Charles I., when a child, was 
brought by his father to the residence of Sir Oliver 
Cromwell, and the boy Oliver was told to kiss the hand 
of the young prince. He immediately replied that he 
would not kiss that boy's hand. The boys, while play- 
ing together, got into a fight, and Oliver got the better 
of the young prince and made his nose bleed copiously. 
His uncle was thoroughly ashamed of him ; but Oliver 
Cromwell, even in his boyhood days, had no respect 
for royalty. In some way he was impressed with his 
future political destiny, and nothing could get it out of 
his mind. When he was at the height of his glory, 
he often averred that, on a certain night in his child- 
hood, a great figure came and opened the curtains of 
his bed, and told him that he would become the great- 
est man in the kingdom. When he first related it, his 
father had him flogged by Dr. Beard. 

The early education of Oliver Cromwell was com- 
mitted to Dr. Thomas Beard, who was principal of a 
grammar school at Huntingdon. Dr. Beard is said to 
have been unusually severe with the boy. What 
thoughts passed through the mind of our future hero at 
that early day we can not say ; but the boy was evi- 
dently influenced by the events and spirit of his age. 
He was six years old when the Popish Gunpowder Plot 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. IOI 

occurred, and the news of it evidently developed his 
combativeness. When eleven, the assassination of 
Henry of Navarre, the defender of Protestantism, must 
have had upon him the same effect. "He never could 
forget the martyrdom of Sir Walter Raleigh, procured 
by Spanish gold and Spanish influence. At the age of 
seventeen, Oliver entered Cambridge University, and 
remained there about one year. On account of his 
father's death, he was compelled to leave the Univers- 
ity. He then went to London, to study law, but, so 
far as we know, he never practiced it. 

At the age of twenty-one, Cromwell was married to 
Elizabeth Bourchier, a woman of very amiable and 
prudent character, and her gentle virtues sweetened his 
domestic life during the most stormy days that England 
ever had. During the great civil conflict, when Crom- 
well was in the midst of bloody strife, he wrote the 
most affectionate letters to his wife. But few men are 
more devoted to their families than was Oliver Crom- 
well. In his oldest son, Oliver, he took special pride, 
and this son is said to have been more like his father 
than any of the rest. When he was killed in battle, it 
went like a dagger to his father's heart. The Protector, 
on his death-bed, alluded to Oliver's death : "It went 
to my heart like a dagger, indeed it did." Cromwell's 
life, after his marriage, was spent upon a farm until 
1628, when he entered Parliament. He was a zealous 
Puritan, and, while on his farm, his house was a favorite 
place of resort for the godly men of that sect. 

In 1628 Cromwell was elected to Parliament as a 
member from Huntingdon. Charles had summoned 
this Parliament to help him get money ; but, when it 
met, it soon determined that there were more import- 



102 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

ant things to attend to than simply granting the king 
money. It was a short Parliament, but a memorable 
one, and contained in it some of the greatest men of 
the English nation. During the first year in Parliament, 
Cromwell was silent and observing. He had not at- 
tracted much attention, unless it was on account of his 
personal appearance. He is described as clownish in 
gait, his dress ill-made and slovenly, his manners coarse 
and abrupt, his nose large and red, his cheeks coarse, 
warted and wrinkled ; but beneath his shaggy eye- 
brows, there glistened eyes full of depth and meaning, 
and above these was a noble forehead, which indicated 
the greatness alluded to by the poet Dryden : 

" It did imprint an awe, 
And naturally all souls to his did bow, 
As wands of divination downward draw, 
And point to beds where sovereign gold doth grow." 

In 1629, Cromwell made his first speech in Parlia- 
ment, which was short, and as follows : " Dr. Alabaster 
preached flat popery at Paul's Cross, for which he was 
commended, and granted a living by the Bishop." 
He then stopped, and asked the following question : 
"If there are steps to church preferment, what are 
we to expect?" Charles, being unable to manage this 
Parliament, dissolved it; and for eleven years England 
was without a Parliament. Cromwell returned to his 
farm, and quietly awaited the coming struggle. Dur- 
ing this time, Gustavus Adolphus, the defender of 
Protestantism, fell, upon the field of Lutzen. It was a 
sad blow to the Protestant cause in Europe, and it could 
not fail to attract universal attention. It must have 
added fuel to the smouldering fire that was already 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. 103 

burning in the bosom of Cromwell. The great English- 
man continued to work faithfully upon his farm, until 
summoned to duty by the authority of his country. 

The necessities of the king compelled him to call 
another Parliament in 1640; but this Parliament so 
displeased him, that he sent the members home in 
three weeks. To this Parliament, also, Cromwell be- 
longed. In a few months another was called, which be- 
came noted in history as the Long Parliament. Crom- 
well represented Cambridge in this Parliament, and was 
elected by only one vote. His opponent is represented 
as saying that that one vote ruined both Church and 
State. John Hampden, Cromwell's cousin, was the 
leader of this Parliament. He was a man noted for 
piety and patriotism, and one, says Macaulay, who 
neither sought greatness nor shunned it. In his 
"Saints' Rest," Baxter says that one of the pleasures 
he hoped to enjoy in heaven was the society of Hamp- 
den. By this time Cromwell had attracted some atten- 
tion in Parliament ; and one said to Hampden, point- 
ing to Cromwell : "Who is that sloven?" Hampden 
said : "That sloven, should we come to a breach with 
the king, will be the greatest man in England." Par- 
liament, by this time, had become too powerful for the 
king. It would neither do as he liked, nor be dissolved 
by him. The breach had become irreparable. For a 
number of years the king had been going one way and 
the people another. They were now so far apart that 
the trouble could not be amicably adjusted ; so both 
parties appealed to the sword. Carlyle thinks that this 
was the most confused time England ever saw. 

On the 1 2th of January, 1642, Charles I. left 
Whitehall, to return there no more until the day of his 



104 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

execution. Both parties made vigorous preparation 
for war. At the age of forty-three, Oliver Cromwell 
girded on his sword, and with his oldest son, Oliver, 
left his quiet home and farm to fight in the defense of 
England's liberty, He had no military education ; but 
he had a conscience of every thing he did. He wanted 
an army of the same spirit as himself. He trained 
what are known as the Ironsides, as thev were never 
defeated in battle. They were free from profanity and 
drunkenness, and prepared for battle by reading the 
Bible and prayer as much as by millitary drill. In the 
early part of the civil war, the Cavaliers appeared to 
be gaining ground rapidly on the Parliamentarians. 
Had it not been for Cromwell and his Ironsides, civil 
and religious liberty would have been crushed in 
England for centuries. It was on the field of Marston 
Moor that the genius of Cromwell first blazed out 
conspicuously. Fairfax commanded the right wing of 
the Puritan army, and Cromwell the left. The Cava- 
liers were commanded by Prince Rupert, the most fiery 
general of his day. In the early part of the battle 
Fairfax was driven off the field. Then came Cromwell 
and his Ironsides. They charged in the name of the 
Most High, and nothing could stand before them. 
They nearly annihilated the Royalist army. Not quite 
one year from this time the battle of Naseby was fought, 
with similar results, only on a larger scale. The king 
was furious, and offered a great reward for the head of 
Cromwell. The king's cause was ruined. A few more 
battles were fought, but the Puritans were always vic- 
torious. Thus ended the First Civil War. 

Cromwell spent much time in negotiating with the 
king, but finally concluded that England had a king 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. 105 

whom no one could trust. Parliament decided that all 
negotiating should be broken off with a monarch so 
treacherous. Cromwell has been greatly blamed for 
the part he took in the execution of Charles. It is 
claimed that even his own family implored him to save 
the king. It was with Cromwell a matter of self- 
defense. Had Charles I. been restored to his kingdom, 
whatever promises he might have made, he evidently 
would have executed Oliver Cromwell. Oliver had 
dealings enough with the unprincipled king ^to fully 
understand this. No candid historian can doubt the 
■fact that the Puritans fully believed that they were do- 
ing the best thing that could be done for their country 
in the execution of Charles I. Charles had shown 
himself unworthy of the title of king, and had been 
a traitor to his people ; so, by the authority of Parlia- 
ment, he was executed January 30, 1649. 

In March, 1649, Cromwell was made Lord-Lieutenant 
of Ireland. The whole country was in rebellion against 
the Commonwealth, and Protesants were being massa- 
cred at a fearful rate. The proper man had been selected 
to strike terror to that country. He shed much blood, 
but it was in order that no more blood might be shed. 
He was kind to the citizens, and never put to death a 
man who was not in arms. When Cromwell took 
Tredah, the brave O'Neal is said to have remarked that 
Cromwell could take hell, if he could storm it. Mat- 
ters were settled in Ireland, and Cromwell returned to 
London with the highest honors of his nation. Some 
one called attention to the great crowd that had come 
out to see him. He remarked that many more would 
come to see him hung. Cromwell did not reach London 
any too soon. Charles I. had taken the covenant, 



106 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

and a large army was being raised in Scotland for the 
purpose of invading England. Cromwell was soon 
prepared to meet it ; and the contending hosts entered 
into deadly conflict at Dunbar. Leslie commanded the 
Scottish army, and it numbered nearly three times as 
many as the English. Of course, it had not the disci- 
pline of Cromwell's Ironsides. The night before the 
battle was spent by the English army in prayer. Crom- 
well told his soldiers to pray to God, and keep their 
power dry. The Ironsides went into battle singing the 
one hundred and seventeenth Psalm. During the 
battle Cromwell was heard to say, "The Lord has 
delivered them into our hands, and now let God arise, 
Let his enemies be scattered." The battle resulted in 
the destruction of Leslie's army. Three thousand were 
slain, and ten thousand made prisoners. The Iron- 
sides did not lose more than thirty men. Scotland was 
now prostrate at the feet of Cromwell, and the Puritans 
were triumphant everywhere. So ended what is some- 
times called the Second Civil War. 

As a civil ruler, Cromwell was fully as successful as 
were the Ironsides on the field of battle. He has been 
blamed for dissolving the Long Parliament, which did 
so much good before the civil war. It must be remem- 
bered that Hampden, Pym and the other great men 
that had belonged to it were dead when Cromwell dis- 
solved it. It had become so weak that it was called in 
derision the Rump Parliament. As it could be no help 
to Cromwell, he thought it best to send its members 
home, and he says that now even a dog barked at 
them. Then came the Little Parliament, called in his- 
tory Bare-bones Parliament, from the name of one of 
its members, who was nicknamed "Praise-God Bare- 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. IO7 

bones." Cromwell soon became ashamed of his Par- 
liament, and dissolved it. He now became Lord Pro- 
tector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and 
Ireland. He was frequently offered the crown, but did 
not think it God's will for him to accept it. Lord Ma- 
caulay claims that, as Lord Protector, he did not have 
as much power as the President of the United States. 
No true Englishman can fail to take pride in the 
foreign policy of Cromwell. He had two objects in 
view. One was to defend the persecuted Protestants 
in Europe, and the other to make the name of English- 
man as great as that of Roman in the palmy days of 
Rome. All students of history know how well he ac- 
complished these objects. He would not sign a treaty 
with the king of France until persecutions were inter- 
dicted within the dominions of the French king. The 
crafty Mazarin is said to have been more afraid of Oliver 
Cromwell than he was of the devil himself. When the 
French king did not want to use that respect to Oliver 
Cromwell that was due a king, he said to Mazarin, 
" Shall I call the usurper my brother?" '* Yes," says 
Mazarin, "and your father, too, if it will accomplish 
your purpose." Mazarin understood Cromwell, and 
told Louis that the rough-shod Puritan would soon be 
before the gates of Paris, if they did not comply w r ith 
his wishes. The Puritans were as successful upon the 
sea as uoon the land. Admiral Blake became king of 
the sea. After he was more than fifty years of age, he 
commenced the new method of warfare, and soon made 
England mistress of the sea. He annihilated the Span- 
ish navy, and swept all pirates from the sea. This 
brave admiral, who prepared the way for Lord Nelson, 
died upon his ship of war while looking upon the shores 



108 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

of his native land. Cromwell's foreign policy was a 
complete success, and the British Empire would not 
have been what she is to-day had it not been for the 
career of Oliver Cromwell. 

The many burdens resting upon the shoulders of 
the great Protector broke down his health. A number 
of plots against his life had been discovered. Charles 
II. had offered a great reward to the man who would 
assassinate Cromwell. The mother of the Protector 
was now dying at Whitehall. Soon after this his favor- 
ite daughter died, and these things were too much for 
the affectionate son and father. He died September 3, 
1658, on the anniversary of his famous battles of Dun- 
bar and Worcester. 

The character of Cromwell is better understood 
now than it was fifty years ago. The age of Boling- 
broke and Hume could not understand Puritanism, and 
until Carlyle and Macaulay presented the truth in ref- 
erence to this mysterious people, historians followed 
the sensualistic age of Charles II. in the descriptions of 
Cromwell. The prediction that God would vindicate 
his character has been fulfilled. English historians are 
now proud of the achievements of their great country- 
man. They love to speak of the name that humbled 
the pride of bloody Spain, the land of the Inquisition 
and of every superstition. Cromwell crushed tyranny 
at home and abroad, and was one of the greatest de- 
fenders of the rights of men. 

When a portrait painter was trying to conceal an 
ugly wart on Cromwell's face, the great man said : 
" Paint me as I am, or I will not give you a shilling." 
This language is significant, and it gives us some con- 
ception of the character of the man. He despised 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. IO9 

hypocrisy in all things, and was thoroughly honest in 
all of his political and religious measures. He was far 
in advance of his Puritan brethren on the question of 
toleration. If he proscribed Catholic or Episcopalian, 
it was for political and not for religious reasons. Crom- 
well's mind was too great, and his motives too pure, to 
force a man to worship otherwise than according to his 
highest convictions. 

In conclusion, we may state that Cromwell was the 
most illustrious example of the reaction against feudal 
tyranny. The great middle class in England rose up 
against the king and his nobles. With Cromwell as 
leader, this class was entirely triumphant; and that 
cursed myth, the divine right of kings, was forever 
banished from English soil. England owes much of 
her present constitutional glory to the mission of Oliver 
Cromwell. 



V. — The Prince of Orange and the Siege of Ley den. 

Motley has truly said that the rise of the Dutch 
republic was one of the greatest events of modern 
times. If this great commonwealth had not taken its 
origin, the wonderful historical phenomena of the six- 
teenth and seventeenth centuries would not have ap- 
peared, or, at least, would have been greatly modified. 
It was an organized protest against ecclesiastical tyranny 
and universal dominion; and its position in the political 
affairs of Europe was such that it was enabled at the 
most critical times to hold the balance of power. The 
magnificent empire of Charles V. was built upon the 
grave of both religious and political liberty. It was 
the most gigantic despotism of modern times. It is 



IIO STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

not surprising that the emperor wanted a few days of 
meditation before going to his grave. He certainly 
needed them, for there never lived a more complete 
despot than was Charles V. There may have lived 
worse men, but not one who more completely crushed 
political and religious liberty. The truth was crushed 
to the earth ; but it rose again, and in its resurrection 
was founded the famous Dutch republic. 

The great political struggle which we are now to 
consider, had an important effect upon the destiny of 
mankind. Society is so organized that one individual 
can not be injured, without there being a serious effect 
upon others. The same thing is true with the society 
of nations. One nation can not struggle with and over- 
come tyranny without also accomplishing something 
for mankind in general. Our indebtedness to the re- 
public of Holland is evidently very great. The same 
Anglo-Saxon blood flows in our veins that flowed in 
the veins of the brave defenders of the Netherlands. 
A large portion of this country was settled by the 
Dutch, and they bravely bore their part in our strug- 
gles for independence. Among the advocates for 
liberty of conscience upon our soil they were the first. 
The brave band of Pilgrims that landed upon Plymouth 
Rock in 1620, had spent twelve years at Leyden, in 
Holland. .They did not persecute, but sheltered Roger 
Williams when he was driven from Salem. They had 
learned from Holland the great lesson of political and 
religious liberty. 

The nation, as well as the individual, is so consti- 
tuted that struggle is necessary in order to bring out 
the highest elements. The greatest stammerer became 
the greatest orator of Greece. The greatest men are 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. Ill 

those that have had the greatest trials and struggles. 
The same thing is true with nations. In the northwest 
of Europe, jutting out into the German Ocean, is that 
soft, spongy soil that forms the country of Holland. 
It was originally a marshy district, the greater part of 
which was swept over at high tide by the waves of the 
German Ocean. It was won back from the ocean by 
the patient labors of the inhabitants, so much admired 
by Julius Caesar. They erected dikes along the coast 
and river shores, and thus preserved the land from the 
encroachments of the sea, and confined the rivers within 
their proper channels. The country is still preserved 
from the sea in the same way, and these dikes are 
built partly of blocks of granite brought from Norway, 
and partly of timbers, turf and clay. They are usually 
about thirty feet high, seventy feet broad at the base, 
and wide enough at the top to make a road such that 
vehicles can pass. These dikes are the work of cen- 
turies, and are watched with the greatest care, and 
constantly kept in repair. Holland, when Caesar vis- 
ited that country, abounded in lakes, but nearly one 
hundred of them have been drained and converted into 
farming land. The brave inhabitants of this country, 
who had contended with wind and sea, and who had 
developed a marvelous love of liberty, could not be 
conquered by the greatest nation of Europe with the 
most powerful army in the world. 

In 1477, Mary, daughter of Charles the Bald, mar- 
ried Maximilian, Archduke of Austria. It was 
through this marriage that the Netherlands, the most 
populous part of Europe, became a possession of the 
house of Hapsburg. At the death of Mary, her son 
Philip came into possession of the Netherlands. His 



112 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

reign was uneventful, and he is only noted in history 
as the father of Charles V. Charles became the most 
powerful ruler in Europe, and was called the Caesar 
of the sixteenth century. In the struggles between 
Charles and France, the Netherlands greatly suffered 
from the ravages of the French fleet. In 1555, Charles 
abdicated his sovereignty of the Netherlands in favor 
of his son Philip, and the next year he transferred to 
him the crown of the empire. 

While Philip, at the city of Brussels, was taking 
the crown from the trembling hands of his father, the 
old man was leaning upon an upright and handsome 
young man of twenty-two, who possessed great wealth, 
and belonged to one of the most distinguished families 
of Europe. This was the Prince of Orange, who be- 
came the father of his country. He was born in 1533, 
and on both his father's and mother's side, belonged 
to distinguished families. His father was of the cele- 
brated Nassau family, and his mother a princess of the 
House of Orange. She was a woman of great piety 
and patriotism, and transmitted these traits to her illus- 
trious son. William was such a remarkable boy that 
he attracted the attention of Charles V. When he was 
only twelve years of age, that emperor is reported 
to have said, "This brave little man must be looked 
to." He was educated under the direction of the 
emperor, and became a Catholic, although his mother 
was a Lutheran. While yet a boy, the little man was 
made a confidant by the emperor, and at the age of 
twenty commanded the imperial forces against the 
French. Not long after Philip had ascended the 
Spanish throne, William of Orange was left as a hostage 
in Paris for the [fulfillment of a treaty with France. 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. II3 

There he acquired the name of ''The Silent," on ac- 
count of the complete control of his emotions, when 
the French king told him of a plot to annihilate the 
Protestants. Although a Catholic, the young prince 
at that time fully made up his mind that the wicked 
plot should never be executed if he could prevent it. 

" His heart was true, his life was pure, 
For him no sufferings were too great; 

With cheer these things he would endure, 
To free his country from Spanish hate." 

The Spanish Inquisition was introduced into Holland. 
There never existed a more infernal machine than was 
this institution. It was a growth, and really of heathen 
origin. The Roman Empire persecuted Christians, and 
when the Church ascended the imperial throne, the 
ideas of Rome politic were transferred to Rome ecclesi- 
astic. Even in the fourth century the Council of Nice 
condemned several persons to be banished. Constan- 
tine went so far as to threaten with death the followers 
of Arius. The pagan spirit continued to grow until 
the light of the Sun of Righteousness was almost totally 
eclipsed, during the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and 
fifteenth centuries. The same old spirit, that might 
makes right, which has always been the animating 
spirit of this world, even affected the early Protestants, 
and they, like their mother, the Roman Church, tried 
to control the consciences of men. Not even America, 
the land of the free and the home of the brave, entirely 
escaped that wicked, persecuting spirit so common in 
the early history of the Reformation. Those who fled 
from other countries to escape persecution, manifested 
the same spirit when they reached our western shores. 

Of all forms of persecution, there was no other 



114 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

< 

that at all compared with the Spanish Inquisition. It 
reduced torture to a science, and never did hell invent 
a more perfect machine. In less than twenty years it 
destroyed in Spain alone more than eighteen thousand 
families. In this institution there was no conscience. 
It consecrated to its service the dagger, the rack and 
the stake. Even the Roman Pontiff had medals struck 
off and Te Deums sung when he heard of the massacre 
of Protestants in France. The selfish and blood-thirsty 
Philip is said to have laughed then for the first and 
only time in life. It was this demon of destruction 
that Philip planted in Holland, and with it William 
was compelled to contend. 

We learn from Caesar that the people of Holland 
were not superstitious and priest-ridden like the Gauls, 
but were a free and deeply religious people. They be- 
lieved in one true God, who was ever visible to the eye 
of faith, and who dwelt in the heart of the pure. No 
slavery existed among them, and the marriage rite, 
which was not regarded by the Gauls, was held sacred 
by these brave warriors of the North. Csesar was im- 
pressed with their love for liberty, and one of their 
earliest books declared that they should be free as long 
as the wind should blow or the world stand. Although 
they became thoroughly converted to Christianity, they 
never had much respect for Papal authority. The more 
aggressive the Pope became, the stronger became their 
resistance to his decrees. Many of the Netherlander 
became the disciples of Waldo, and they sympathized 
with every movement to reform the Church, and check 
the ambition of the Papal See. So when Luther broke 
with the Pope, the people of Holland were well pre- 
pared to accept the doctrines of the Reformation. It 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. I I 5 

became a stronghold for Protestantism, and this brought 
it into conflict with Spain, the defender of Papacy. 
Philip was determined to annihilate the inhabitants, 
and re-people the country ; so the great conflict com- 
menced. 

Dickens says that it was the best of times ; it was 
the worst of times ; it was the season of light ; it was 
the season of darkness ; it was the spring of hope ; it 
was the winter of despair. Schiller pronounced it the 
brightest of the world's epochs. It was a principle of 
Philip to keep no faith with heretics. When he prom- 
ised most he would do the least. Motley says of him 
that human victims, chained to the stake and burning, 
were the blazing torches which lighted him to his nup- 
tial couch. He considered it his mission to suppress 
heresy. He sent Alva, the most blood-thirsty general 
of the age, a man who was never known to speak a 
kind word or do a good deed, with ten thousand of the 
best trained soldiers, to cut off the heads of the heretics. 
As William could not get the nobles to cooperate 
with him in driving back the Spaniards, he announced, 
himself a Protestant, and went back to Germany to 
await his opportunity. Alva had his own way, and 
the judgment alone can reveal the outrages committed 
upon a defenceless people. Egmont and Horn, though 
strict Catholics, were both executed. 

The suffering and helpless people appealed to 
" Father William," as they called him, who was their 
only hope. He immediately raised an army to defend 
them ; and, on being asked how many kings he had on 
his side, replied, ''Only one, but he is the King of 
kings." 

Alva ordered every man, woman and child to be 



Il6 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

put to death in those towns and cities which resisted 
his advance. While nearly all others opened their gates 
to him, the beautiful little city of Haarlem remained 
true to the cause of the patriots. Alva sent against it 
thirty thousand men, nearly all of whom were either 
killed by the sword or blown into mid-air by the powder 
of the patriots. Alva wrote to Philip that such a war 
had never been seen or heard of in any land on earth. 
The Spanish general agreed to pardon the people if 
they would surrender to him. They did so, and he had 
two thousand persons butchered in cold blood. This 
greatly helped the patriots, for it caused the people to- 
more intensely hate the Spaniards, and it made William 
and his associates more determined to continue the 
struggle. 

In. 1574 the city of Leyden was invested by the 
Spanish army. These hours were very dark; for 
William was sick, and there was not much hope for 
his recovery. The garrison was small, and the city 
had to be defended by the heroic inhabitants. In June 
provisions ran low, and soon the people had also to 
contend with famine. Still they held out. July, Au- 
gust and September passed away, and the sufferings of 
the people were terrible. They sent the Prince word 
that if they were not soon assisted, human strength 
could do no more. His reply was for them hourly to 
expect help. From Amsterdam he was anxiously 
watching the movements of the enemy. 

When he found that he could save Leyden in no 
other way, he got the consent of the States to a des- 
perate measure. The dikes were cut, and the waters 
of the German Ocean flowed in upon the country, 
flooding the Spanish camp, and enabling the patriots 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM. WJ 

to throw supplies into Leyden. A Spanish fleet was 
sent to oppose the Dutch fleet in its efforts to relieve 
the city ; but it was destroyed, and twelve hundred 
Spaniards were slain. The day after Leyden was sup- 
plied, a northeasterly gale drove back the waters, and 
the dikes were at once repaired. The King of kings 
truly fought with the Prince of Orange. The deliver- 
ance of Leyden was celebrated by the founding of the 
University of Leyden, one of the greatest institutions 
of learning in Europe. 

Philip saw that he could not conquer the Nether- 
lands while the Prince of Orange was alive. The Span- 
ish king, to accomplish his ends, did not scruple at any- 
thing ; so he offered a great reward for the assassination 
of Prince William. Within two years five attempts had 
been made upon the life of the Prince by the agents of 
the king of Spain. The sixth attempt was successful. 
In July, 1584, a poorly-dressed Burgundian applied to 
Orange for money with which to buy clothes to go to 
church. The generous-hearted Prince gave him the 
money with which he bought pistols to kill that godly 
leader. While returning from his dinner, this pre- 
tended beggar shot him, and was himself executed by 
the Dutch. While dying, William the patriot said, 
4t God have mercy upon my poor people !" The Prince 
of Orange is one of the greatest characters of history. 
He was prudent, brave, daring, free from rashness and 
egotism. He was a man of both tact and talent, and 
studied men as well as books. His faith in God and a 
future state was such that he scarcely knew the mean- 
ing of the word failure. He will always be known as 
among the first defenders of liberty for man, woman 
and child. 



Il8 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

The death of William was a terrible blow to the 
patriots, but they determined to go on. They had 
learned too much of civic virtue to be ruined even by 
so great a misfortune. William's son Maurice was 
made his successor, when only seventeen years of age. 
His enemies laughed and called him a twig. His reply 
was, "The twig shall become a tree." The twig did 
grow, for Maurice became the most distinguished gen- 
eral of his day. He gained victory after victory, until 
every Spaniard was driven from the Netherlands. After 
a struggle of eight years for independence, Holland 
took her place among the great nations of the world. 
The bravery and energy of her people compensated for 
her smallness of territory, and she became a power 
whose alliance was sought by the great nations of 
Europe. 



CHAPTER IX. 

PURITANISM AND QUAKERISM. 

The epithet, Puritan, was first applied to the English 

dissenters, in the year 1564, and continued to designate 

them during the two reigns succeeding Elizabeth's. The 

word puritan denotes an advocate of purity in religion. 

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, of England, there 

was a great lack of purity in the Church of England, 

both in doctrine and discipline. This looseness soon 

led to the organization of that body known as Puritans. 

They were persecuted and despised ; but possessed an 

heroic spirit that produced upheavals, not only in the 

religious, but also in the political world. The early 

Puritans were devoted students of the Bible. They 

were the people of a book, and that book was the Bible. 

It was read in the churches, it was read at home ; and, 

wherever read, it kindled a startling enthusiasm. It 

had long been neglected by the church, so that English 

worship consisted in empty forms. Even the ministers 

of the Established Church were addicted to worldly 

pleasures, and neglected the holy duties of their office. 

The Puritans made the people conscious of their apos- 

119 



120 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

tasy, and impressed upon their minds the importance 
of reformation. The pious were so startled and inter- 
ested in the Bible representation of truth that it became 
to them the only book. Elizabeth might silence the 
pulpit ; but it was impossible for her to silence the great 
preachers of justice and truth, who were completely 
devoted to the holy Bible. The truth they loved ; and 
from the abundance of the heart they would speak. A 
new conception of man and of life superseded the old, 
and a new moral and religious impulse spread through 
every class of the nation. The Italian novelettes of the 
Elizabethan age were superseded by literature better 
suited to the times. The strength of the Puritan cause 
in England lay rather in the middle and professional 
classes than in the nobility. They were less addicted 
to the pleasures of the world, and were better prepared 
for reformation. We find in John Milton not only the 
highest, but also the completest, type of Puritanism. 
With it his life was largely contemporary, for he was 
born when its influence over English religion and En- 
glish politics had become direct, and he died when its 
effect to mold them into its own type had terminated. 
In John Milton, Puritanism produced the greatest epic 
poem of the world. No other artist could ever manage 
supernatural characters as did the great Puritan. 

The Puritans were men of thought and men of 
action. Their religious zeal prepared them for heroic 
deeds when they regarded them as in the line of duty. 
Oliver Cromwell, when a boy, was buried from time to 
time in the deepest melancholy, and haunted with 
visions of coming death. He went through the valley 
of darkness, yet felt that the Lord was with him. When 
he conquered self and satisfied his own mind, he be- 



PURITANISM AND QUAKERISM. 121 

came, as we have already seen, one of the most dis- 
tinguished heroes of the world. He waited not for the 
iron to get hot, but struck until he made it hot. In- 
tense conviction fitted Puritanism to sweep every- 
thing before it. It has been said that religious wars are 
more bloody than others ; and the religious zeal of the 
Puritans made them execute what they believed to be 
the vengeance of God upon his enemies. In Ireland, 
Cromwell massacred without mercy all that were in re- 
bellion against Puritan England. The circumstances of 
the times made the Puritans politicians, and they be- 
longed to the sternest class. They were as successful 
on the field of battle as in religious discussions with 
their enemies. They sang songs as they went into 
battle, overcame their enemies and established the 
Commonwealth, which, as we have shown in another 
chapter, sustained itself during the life of Cromwell 
against all its enemies. 

After the Restoration, the Puritans were the sub- 
jects of unmeasured invective and derision. Butler's 
" Hudibras " is a political satire, written in mock-heroic 
verse, and its aim was to ridicule the Puritans. The 
persons who were thus being ridiculed, were the best 
men in England. They saved the country from utter 
recklessness and licentiousness. American civilization 
owes much to the early spirit of Puritanism. The New 
England Puritans persecuted Baptists and Quakers, 
hung witches, and did many things that were wrong ; 
but, notwithstanding all their faults, they possessed 
political ideas of purity and religious convictions that 
are absolutely essential to the welfare of a Christian 
republic. There is more Puritanism needed in America 
at the present time. 



122 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

The Quakers represent the mystical phase of the 
Puritan movement. The practical English would, of 
course, be more practical than others in their mys- 
ticism. They consequently organized churches, and 
sent out missionaries to proclaim their creed. The 
founder of the Quakers, or Society of Friends, was 
George Fox, who was born at Drayton, Leicestershire, 
England, in 1624, and died in London in 1691. His 
father was a pious Presbyterian, and his neighbors 
called him Righteous Christer. His mother was a good 
woman, and of the stock of martyrs. The boy was 
grave and contemplative, and acquired only an elemen- 
tary education, on account of the poverty of his par- 
ents. At the age of nineteen, he abandoned his occu- 
pation as shoemaker to better prepare himself for the 
mission to which he felt himself called. For several 
years he led a wandering life, and in 1648 he appeared 
at Manchester as a preacher, and excited a great sen- 
sation by his peculiar views. Imprisonment and per- 
secution only tended to make him more earnest in 
advocating what he believed to be right. He traveled 
extensively, and made many converts. 

One special cause of the persecution of Fox and 
his followers was the fact that they would not take any 
oath, and the authorities looked upon them as disloyal. 
Fox told his opponents to quake at the word of God, 
and this originated the nickname Quaker. The Puri- 
tans in 1655 brought Fox as a prisoner to London, and 
he was examined in the presence of Cromwell. The 
Protector not only treated him kindly, but declared 
that his teaching was harmless, and several times pro- 
tected him from persecution. Fox says : " As I spoke, 
he several times said that it was very good — it was the 



PURITANISM AND QUAKERISM. 1 23 

truth. Many more words I had with him ; but people 
coming in, I drew a little back. As I was turning he 
catched me by the hand, and with tears in his eyes, 
said, ' Come again to my house, for if thou and I were 
but an hour of a day together, we should be nearer 
one to the other. ' " Fox after this got married, visited 
America, and made an extensive preaching tour through 
Europe. He appears to have had a narrow mind, and 
was not much profited by his travels. Although he 
lived in an age of great men and great events, you 
would know nothing about them from his writings. 
He believed in an inner light, which he placed above 
the word of God, and he actually rejected Christian 
Baptism and the Lord's Supper. As advocates of 
peace and certain moral reforms, the Quakers have 
done great good, but so far as religious progress is con- 
cerned they have made a complete failure. 

The greatest of the Quakers was William Penn. 
He was the son of one of the most distinguished naval 
commanders of England. Admiral Penn, of course, 
wanted to make a great man of his son. The son 
certainly did become distinguished, but not in the way 
in which the father expected. Young William was 
educated at the University of Oxford, and after finish- 
ing his education was sent on a tour through Europe 
in order to improve his mind, and remove his tendency 
to Quakerism. His travels greatly improved his mind, 
but he returned to his father a Quaker still. The 
stern Admiral drove his Quaker son from his house, 
and this determined young man was even sent to the 
Tower for his teaching. His convictions were so strong 
and his determination was so great that he won the ad- 
miration of his father, through whose influence he was 



124 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

released from the Tower. When the old admiral was 
dying, he said to his son William: "If you and your 
friends keep to your plain way of preaching and living, 
you will make an end of the priests." 

In 1 68 1, Penn exchanged a claim of sixteen thou- 
sand pounds, which he had inherited from his father, 
against the English Government, for a territory in the 
New World corresponding to what is now called Penn- 
sylvania. The territory was granted to Penn as abso- 
lute proprietor, and Charles II. called it by his name 
to more fully recognize his proprietorship. The object 
of Penn was to secure a home for his persecuted breth- 
ren. He invited all persons, who desired to do so, to 
settle in his territory, and proclaimed his intention to 
leave the people free to make their own laws. No 
man was to be disturbed in his religious convictions. 
In November, 1682, Penn with a few friends landed on 
the beautiful site where Philadelphia now stands. He 
made a treaty with the Indians, which was never vio- 
lated. Their chiefs said: "We will live in love with 
William Penn and his children as long as the moon and 
sun shall endure." The Indians never shed any Quaker 
blood. Penn called the capital of his province Phila- 
delphia, which means Brotherly Love, in token of the 
principles by which they intended to be governed. The 
word of an honest man was considered sufficient evi- 
dence without an oath. With the exception of the 
hereditary office of proprietary, Pennsylvania was a 
representative democracy. The council in Maryland 
was named by Lord Baltimore, but in Pennsylvania by 
the people. The Quaker influence in the New World 
has certainly done much in giving us civil and political 
liberty. While the Quakers as a religious body are 



PURITANISM AND QUAKERISM. 125 

rapidly diminishing, the early influence of Quakerism 
in shaping the destiny of the American Republic will 
never be forgotten. We will close in the following 
lines of Whittier, the greatest of Quaker poets : 

" And so I find it well to come 

For deeper rest to this still room, 

For here the habit of the soul 

Feels less the outer world's control ; 

The strength of mutual purpose pleads 

More earnestly our common needs ; 

And from silence multiplied 

By these still forms on either side, 

The world that time and sense have known 

Falls off, and leaves us God alone. 

So to the calmly gathered thought 

The innermost of truth is taught, 

The mystery, dimly understood, 

That love of God is love of good ; 

That Book and Church and Day are given 

For man, not God — for earth, not heaven ; 

The blessed means to holiest ends, 

Not masters, but benignant friends." 



CHAPTER X. 

SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW CHURCH. 

Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish theologian and 
philosopher, was born in Stockholm, January 29, 1688, 
and died in London, England, March 29, 1772. He 
completed his college course at Upsal, in 1709. After 
two years' travel "in Holland, France and England, he 
settled at Griefswold in Pomerania, where he spent his 
time in scientific study and research. He was a great 
student, a fine scholar, and a man of universal culture. 
It was hardly possible for him to confine his exclusive 
attention to any one department of study, for he was a 
master in all departments. While engaged in scientific 
research, he wrote Latin fables and Latin poems. His 
versatility was such that he could compose in a number 
of languages with almost equal accuracy. Commencing 
in 1 7 16, he published for two years a periodical devoted 
to mathematics and mechanics. We next find him in 
the service of Charles XII., of Sweden, as a chief en- 
gineer in the college of mines. He maintained a close 
personal relation to the king, and greatly assisted in 

military operations. At the suggestion of the king, an 
126 



SWEDEN BORG AND THE NEW CHURCH. I 27 

eminent Swedish scientist offered his daughter in mat- 
trimony to Svvedenborg ; but as the young lady pre- 
ferred another, he relinquished his claims and never 
married. It placed the mind of Swedenborg in a 
rather abnormal condition on the question of marriage. 

He spent his time from 17 17 to 1722 in writing on 
scientific subjects, and among his writings at this time, 
was a pamphlet on a method of determining longitude 
by means of the moon. While there was valuable in- 
formation in this pamphlet, there was a good deal that 
was only moonshine ; and many think that Swedenborg 
became pretty thoroughly moon-struck. About this 
time his extreme mystical tendency of mind began to 
manifest itself. He took another rest in travel, and 
became acquainted with many of the most scientific 
men of his day. His scientific reputation became 
thoroughly established ; and he became a member of 
the Academy of Science at Stockholm, and correspond- 
ing member of the Imperial Academy of Science at 
St. Petersburg, and member of the Academy of Science 
at Upsal. In 1745 his scientific w r ritings closed in a 
work entitled " De Cultu et Amore Dei," in which he 
set forth, under the form of an allegory, his theory on 
the creation of the world. 

In 1746 Swedenborg believed that he was called of 
God to reveal a new system of religion to man. He 
wrote a great many books, and published them at his 
own expense. Some think he was insane ; but his 
disciples actually believe that he had the revelations 
which he claimed. He states that this spiritual condi- 
tion came upon him gradually, and did not at all alarm 
him, although it greatly excited him. I believe that 
Swedenborg was thoroughly honest, but have no doubt 



128 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

about his mind having been in an abnormal condition. 
He made no efforts to gain proselytes to his doctrine, 
except the publication and distribution of his writ- 
ings. When upon his death-bed he was asked the 
truth concerning his teachings. ' ' As true as you see 
me before you, so true is everything I have written." 
In a few days he died, in great peace of mind, having 
partaken of the Lord's Supper a short time before. 

Swedenborg 's Philosophy. 

In philosophy he was a disciple of Descartes and 
Spinoza. He was a great lover of Descartes, and spoke 
most beautifully of the great French metaphysician, 
even until his death. He can account for the position 
of Swedenborg in philosophy on the principle that like 
loves like. Descartes was really the founder of the 
ideal philosophy of modern times. When one man 
follows a certain tendency which he admires in another, 
he is most certain to go in that tendency far beyond 
his master. Swedenborg, therefore, represents the ex- 
treme mysticism of the Cartesian philosophy. He was 
a formidable opponent of German infidelity, and an 
advocate of supernaturalism. In philosophy we may 
associate with him Lavater, Heinrich and Stilling. We 
may call these men theosophic mystics, if we do not 
go so far as to call them by the name of visionaries. 
This tendency manifested itself to some extent with 
Zinzendorf and the Pietists. John Wesley, who was 
a disciple of Zinzendorf, impressed its image upon 
modern Methodism. This mystic tendency is fearfully 
visible in the Methodistic theory of conversion. 

Zinzendorf did not claim to have revelations, nor 
did he believe that any newer revelation would super- 



SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW CHURCH. I2g 

sede the Bible. In this be differed from Swedenborg, 
who insisted upon continued revelations, a power to 
communicate with the spiritual world, and also the 
power to work miracles. There is an intimate relation 
between Swedenborgianism and modern spiritualism. 
Neither system openly rejects the Bible, but both 
largely supersede it by their new revelations. It is 
fair, however, to state that although Swedenborg was a 
spiritualist, he manifested much more reverence for the 
Bible than do the majority of Spiritualists. Sweden- 
borg was a good man, but was so imaginative that his 
visions became to him realities. 

Swedenborg' s Theology. 

It is difficult to give a sketch of Swedenborg's 
doctrine, as the outer and inner appear to conflict ; and 
the threads, which bind the whole, are in knots, while 
their loose ends are lost in a mystical cloud. He may 
have seen the logical connections of his different posi- 
tions, but it is not for man now on earth to see them. 
The Scriptures were not the only source from which 
Swedenborg derived religious truth, especially the 
Scriptures according to the letter. The angels, he as- 
serted, i, e. y the spirits of the departed, were his in- 
structors ; for he recognized no other angels than these. 
The teachings of these celestial beings he did not think 
antagonistic to the Bible, but supplementary ; ' ' in- 
deed," said he, "the angels help me to rightly under- 
stand the Bible." 

Swedenborg opposed the doctrine of the Trinity. 
According to the revelations made by the angels 
to him, he says there are not three persons, as the 
orthodox maintain, which is but saying there are three 



130 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

gods ; but the whole Trinity is embraced in a single 
person of the God-man, Jesus Christ. According to 
this, when Christ was upon earth, there was no God in 
the heavens. Swedenborg wrote some good things 
against Tri-theism, but his position contradicts some of 
the plainest statements in the Bible in reference to the 
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Just as certainly as the 
unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in one nature, 
which is evidently taught in the Bible, contradicts Tri- 
theism, just so certainly does the difference in person- 
ality, or subsistence, between Father, Son and Holy 
Spirit contradict the Swedenborgian doctrine of unity. 
Swedenborg's views of life after death are highly 
interesting. He taught that every person transfers his 
life here unchanged to the other world. What he was and 
did here he will be and do there ; what he wished and 
worked for here, he will desire and work for there. 
He regards the future life as only a high potentiality 
of the present life. With this before us, it is not dif- 
ficult to understand his teachings in reference to future 
marriage, houses and lots, farms, sheep and cattle. 

The New Church. 

Swedenborg interprets Rev. xxi. 2, to signify the 
new church, whose doctrine he was commissioned to 
preach. The followers of Swedenborg organized them- 
selves into associations known as "Societies of the 
New Jerusalem," or of the "New Church." Sweden- 
borg did not contemplate the organization of such 
societies, nor give any directions for such establish- 
ments. According to the doctrine of Swedenborgian- 
ism, the judgment has already passed. Swedenborg 
claims that it occurred in 1757, and he was a witness. 



SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW CHURCH. 131 

He gives a graphic description of the position of the 
-different nations on that terrible day, which, he claims, 
lasted nearly the whole year. 

In the writings of Swedenborg, there are many 
things to commend. He always wrote in a good spirit. 
There can be no question about his piety and sincerity. 
He was a fine scholar, a thoughtful and suggestive 
writer. His great ideas about the relation of the seen 
to the unseen are not without foundation. While he 
has evidently presented much that is fanciful, there is 
also much truth in what he has written on this great 
subject. The future state is not the dreamland of 
the Greek and Roman mythology, but a substantial 
state. It is a place where we will meet our friends, and 
we will know one another there. Jesus has gone to 
prepare for us a place, and he will come again and re- 
ceive us unto himself where we will live with him for- 
ever. 

The following we believe to be the fundamental 
errors in the system of Swedenborg: (i) His method 
of interpreting the Bible would destroy the meaning of 
any book. He violates all the rules of interpretation. 
While there is figurative as well as literal language in 
the Bible, the figurative is either explained or it is so 
plain that the faithful student can not mistake its mean- 
ing. Any reader of Swedenborg can readily see that 
his writings are a mixture of rationalism and mysticism. 
The inward meaning of the word, which he says can 
not be understood, we had better let alone. Too many 
speculate on the inward meaning of the word. (2) The 
Swedenborgian doctrine of the Trinity contradicts the 
word of God. While he annihilates the Trinitarian 
positions of his day, his own position does not har- 



132 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

monize with the personality of Father, Son and Holy 
Spirit taught in the Bible. (3) According to Sweden- 
borg, the judgment has passed. There is nothing more 
plainly taught in the prophetical part of the word of 
God than the fact that the judgment is yet future. The 
Bible clearly teaches that Christ will come again. 
Swedenborgianism contradicts the word of God by 
claiming that the second coming of Christ has already 
occurred. (4) The Bible teaches that the dead will 
be raised when Jesus comes. While Svvedenborg taught 
that the future state is substantial, he also claimed that 
the resurrection of the dead had been accomplished. 
In this position we clearly see that he contradicts the 
Bible. A careful study of Swedenborg's writings will 
convince any ^thoughtful person that he had no new 
revelations. 



CHAPTER XL 

UNITARIANISM AND UNIVERSALISM. 

Unitarians are those who assert the absolute unity 
•of God, and deny the doctrine of the Trinity. All 
Unitarians deny the deity of Christ, but many of them 
believe in his divinity. I have met the leading Uni- 
tarian preachers of the East, and have heard addresses 
by the most of them, and these addresses convinced 
me that they had great reverence for Christ, and firmly 
believed in the inspiration of the Bible. They were, 
of course, of the Channing wing. The Unitarians also 
deny the doctrine of total depravity and the necessity 
of a vicarious atonement. They claim that the doc- 
trine of the Trinity is not in harmony with the teach- 
ings of Christ and his apostles. Also, that before the 
Council of Nice, Christian writers generally favored 
their position. Trinitarianism, they believe, originated 
in the speculations of Alexandrine and Platonic schools ; 
and think that it was enforced on the people by the 
authority of the emperor, through the influence of cer- 
tain ecclesiastics. 

With the Reformation, Unitarianism revived in 

133 



134 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

Europe. It is claimed that some of Luther's intimate 
friends were Unitarians, and that many eminent men 
in Switzerland embraced the same doctrine. Servetus- 
was burned on account of his Unitarian belief. The 
doctrine made such progress in England, that in the 
days of Elizabeth a number of persons were put to 
death for denying the doctrine of the Trinity. Dr. 
Samuel Clark, Lardner, Milton, Locke, and many other 
eminent Englishmen, were Unitarians. English Deism 
was largely an outgrowth of Unitarianism. 

The Pilgrim Fathers resided some time at Leyden, 
and there, to some extent, came under Unitarian in- 
fluences. There was not, however, any open dissent 
from Calvinism for more than a hundred years. New 
England was quite ripe for the great Unitarian move- 
ment of the eighteenth century ; and many leading 
Puritan preachers separated from their old communion. 
Harvard University fell into the hands of the Unitari- 
ans, and remains with them to this day. 

The peculiarities of the political origin of the 
United States have presented an aspect of novelty in the 
religious history of America unparalleled in the history 
of any European nation. The founders of our govern- 
ment were wise students of the philosophy of history, 
and they knew that many of the misfortunes of European 
States were caused by the union of Church and State ; 
so they determined to have no longer a State religion, 
but wanted a religious state. Previous to the Revolution, 
there were only two States granting religious toleration 
— Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. It was not until 
1 791 that the amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States was adopted, forbidding Congress in the 
future from passing any law for the establishing of 



UNITARIANISM AND UNIVERSALISM. 1 35 

religion or forbidding its free exercise. During the es- 
tablishment of religion in the New England colonies, 
many worldly persons were introduced into the church, 
and they prepared the way for a tide of skepticism which 
very rapidly spread over the country. The coercive 
measures that had been used caused many to acquire a 
distaste for religion. 

In 1794 Joseph Priestley, a skeptical English philos- 
opher, emigrated to the United States, and settled at 
Northumberland, Pa. He had controverted on his- 
torical grounds both the divinity and preexistence of 
Jesus Christ, and was thought to be in hearty sympathy 
with the French Revolution. His friends went so far 
as to celebrate the anniversary of the capture of the 
Bastile. While Priestley was skeptical in many respects, 
he did not renounce Christianity, but built up a Uni- 
tarian Church at Northumberland. A few years ago 
I had the privilege of seeing the church in which he 
preached. Thomas Paine very much sympathized with 
the views of Priestley. He had also been a dissenting 
minister in England. After he came in contact with 
the French philosophers, he went far beyond Priestley, 
and entirely renounced Christianity, attacking it in a 
bitter spirit in his "Age of Reason." Although he 
has been so called, Paine was no atheist ; he was a 
deist, and hoped for a future life. Through his in- 
fluence, the materialistic philosophy of France was in- 
troduced into this country. French philosophy wielded, 
for a time, an influence at both Yale and Harvard Uni- 
versities. 

Theodore Parker, born in Lexington, Mass., in 
1 8 10, represented in America the religious side of Ger- 
man philosophy. As America had received a wave 



I36 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

from the French shore, there now comes one from Ger- 
many. Parker was a Unitarian preacher, but, strictly 
speaking, was a disciple of De Wette. In his discourse 
on religion, he declared that Christ and the Bible were 
the two great idols of Christendom. Parker confounded 
intuition and instinct, and declared that instinctively 
man arrives at a knowledge of God and of redemption. 
While Materialists were disposed to ignore intuition, 
the Rationalists magnified it beyond all bounds, and in- 
sisted that man is a sufficient guide in himself, and 
needs no revelation. 

In the Unitarian Church of America there have 
been three tendencies : First, those who denied the 
doctrine of the Trinity, but accepted the miraculous 
in the Bible ; Second, those who denied also the mir- 
aculous element ; Third, those who denied the authority 
of the Bible itself. The first class was represented by 
Channing, the second by Priestley, and the third by Par- 
ker. The Unitarians at the present time are largely the 
disciples of Channing, for the followers of Priestley and 
Parker have mostly gone into infidelity. 

Universalism advocates the ultimate salvation of all 
mankind. Some Universalists claim that death ends 
all punishment ; others that punishment will extend 
into the unseen world, but that all will ultimately be 
restored and saved. The first Universalist Church was 
organized in 1750, in the city of London, by James 
Relly. John Murray was the pioneer of Universalism 
in this country. A man by the name of Thomas Potter, 
who held the Universalist views, had built a chapel at 
Goodluck, N. J. He believed that God would send 
him a preacher, and when he met Murray, concluded 
that he had found the man. Murray had become a 



UNITARIANI3M AND UNIVERSALISM. I 37 

Universalist under the preaching of Relly, and had left 
the Methodist Church, to which he had formerly be- 
longed. He came to this country with the intention 
of never speaking again before the public; but was 
brought out in the way aforementioned. Murray, Win- 
chester, and nearly all the early U ni versalists, agreed 
with the orthodox churches on almost every subject 
except the doctrine of universal salvation. Hosea 
Ballou, however, in 1795, began to preach against the 
Trinity and the doctrine of vicarious atonement. 

In 1803 the following Confession of Faith was ad- 
opted by the Universalists, at Winchester, N. H. : 

Art. I. We believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New- 
Testaments contain a revelation of the character of God, and of the 
duty, interest, and final distination of mankind. 

Art. 2. We believe that there is one God, whose nature is love, 
revealed in one Lord Jesus Christ, by one Holy Spirit of Grace, who 
will finally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and happi- 
ness. 

Art. 3. We believe that holiness and true happiness are insepar- 
ably connected, and that believers ought to be careful to maintain 
order and practice good works, for these things are good and profitable 
unto men. 

In 1817 Mr. Ballou began to advocate the doctrine 
that all punishment is confined to this life. His influ- 
ence was such that it became the predominant belief of 
the Universalists, and led to a division in 1831. A 
new sect was organized, under the name of Restora- 
tionists. Mr. Ballou is yet held in high esteem by the 
Universalists, but his position on the question of pun- 
ishment is generally rejected. You now seldom meet 
a Universalist minister who is not a Restorationist. 

The Universalists, to prove a post mortem gospel, 
rely mostly upon I. Pet. iii. 19-20. I do not think 



I38 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

their position is sustained, for the following reasons: 

(1) Grant that Christ actually went in person to preach 
to the spirits in prison, there is no evidence that they 
all repented, or that any of them actually did so. 
Christ is now at the right hand of God, and there is no 
evidence that he is preaching to the spirits in prison. 

(2) The Universalists can never explain the fact that 
there is only a class mentioned as having been preached 
to. Why limit the preaching to those who were diso- 
bedient in the days of Noah ? (3) We learn, from 
other Scripture, that Christ went to Paradise •; but 
there is no evidence that he ever went to Tartarus. 
Between the two there was a great gulf. (4) The con- 
text seems to indicate that the preaching was done in 
the days of Noah. In was done by the same Spirit 
which raised Christ from the dead, and this was cer- 
tainly the Holy Spirit Noah was a type of Christ, 
and was, in his days, inspired by the Holy Spirit to 
preach to those who, in the days of Simon Peter, were 
in prison because they rejected the preaching of Noah. 

The Universalists have always had great difficulty 
in explaining Matt. xxv. 46. The adjective aionios, 
which is used to describe eternal life, is also used to de- 
scribe everlasting punishment. Some Universalist 
writers claim that if the Saviour intended to teach 
eternal punishment, he would have used the adjective 
aidioSy instead of aionios. They ought to know that 
both words are derived from the same Greek root — aei, 
which means always, In Matt. xxv. 46, we have a 
figure of rhetoric called antithesis. The law of antith- 
esis is that the words on both sides of the antithetical 
expression are equal in extent, but opposite in 
character. If the Saviour intended to teach eternal 



UNITARIANISM AND UNIVERSALISM. 1 39 

punishment, and has not taught it in the Scripture be- 
fore us, I do not see what language he could have used 
in order to teach it. In Rev. xxii. 5, we have the ex- 
pression, " Reign with Christ forever and ever;" and 
in Rev. xx. 10, the language, " tormented day and 
night forever and ever. " In these expressions we have 
the duplicate of aion; and if eternity can be expressed 
in language, it is certainly done. In preaching a post 
mortem gospel, the Universalists are building upon a 
very boggy foundation. 



CHAPTER XII. 

ADVENTISM AND MATERIALISM. 

Adventism properly denotes a belief in the second 
personal coming of Christ. I endorse that doctrine 
with my whole heart, and have no sympathy with that 
position which denies the second personal coming of 
our Saviour. When Jesus ascended to heaven, the 
two men who stood by in white apparel, said, "Ye 
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? 
this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, 
shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go in- 
to heaven " (Acts i. 1 1). He will come " in a cloud with 
power and great glory" (Luke xxi. 27). This will 
distinguish his second personal coming from all provi- 
dential comings. 

The words "Adventist" and "Second Adventist," 

are used to designate those who believe the following 

in reference to the second coming of Christ : That the 

reign and kingdom of Christ are yet to come ; that the 

millennium is that period ; that Christ will come before 

that era, and take possession of the throne of David 

in Jerusalem, and reign with his saints, in person, over 
140 



ADVENTISM AND MATERIALISM. I4I 

the world one thousand years. After this, the wicked 
dead will be raised, and then comes the judgment. 
We have the following objections to this position : 

1. Christ is now a King, and has a kingdom. He 
is a priest after the order of Melchisedec, who was both 
king and priest. The name itself denotes this, and 
Zechariah calls him a priest upon his throne (Zech. vi. 
13; Psa. ex. 1). God raised up Christ to sit on his 
throne, and he is to reign until his enemies are made 
his footstool (Acts ii. 30-35). There is nothing more 
clearly taught in the Bible than the fact that Christ 
has now a kingdom. The Colossians could not have 
been translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son, if 
Jesus did not have a kingdom (Col. i. 13). John was 
in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ ; and this 
clearly teaches that Jesus, at that time, had a kingdom 
(Rev. i. 9). As we have received a kingdom which 
can not be moved, we should serve God acceptably 
with reverence and godly fear (Heb. xii. 28). The 
fact that Christ is now King and has a kingdom, con- 
tradicts one of the fundamental positions of what is 
now known as Adventism. 

2. The righteous and wicked dead will be raised at 
the same time. John v. 28, 29, clearly teaches that 
the righteous and wicked dead will be raised at the 
same hour. The righteous will be raised at the last 
day (John vi. 54) ; if the wicked are raised one thou- 
sand years afterwards, it will be one thousand years 
after the last day. The righteous will be raised at the 
sounding of the last trumpet (I. Cor. xv. 51, 52) ; if 
the wicked are raised one thousand years after this, it 
will be one thousand years after the sounding of the 
last trumpet. The first resurrection of Rev. xx. we be- 



142 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

lieve to be identical with the resurrection men- 
tioned in Rorn. xi. 15. The casting away of the 
Israelites was the reconciling of the Gentiles ; and 
their reception will be a resurrection from among 
the dead. The same resurrection is referred to in 
Ezek. xxxvii. 1-12. In the eleventh verse we have the 
statement : ' ' These dry bones are the whole house of 
Israel." And in the twelfth verse: "O my people, 
I will open your graves, and bring you into the land of 
Israel." We may, therefore, conclude that the receiv- 
ing of the Israelites will be the first resurrection. 

3. The second personal coming of Christ is in- 
separably connected with the judgment and destruction 
of the world. The heavens will retain Jesus until the 
time of the fulfillment of all the prophecies from the 
beginning of the world (Acts iii. 21). The time of the 
fulfillment of some of them will be at the Judgment ; 
so Jesus will not come until he comes to judge the 
world in righteousness. Matt. xxv. 31, 32 teaches 
that Jesus will come at the Judgment, and gather all 
nations before him, and separate them one from another, 
as the shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. 
He will judge the quick and the dead at his appearing 
and his kingdom (II. Tim. iv. 1). There is nothing 
said about the coming of Christ in the first part of 
Rev. xx., but after the millennium, in ver. 12, the 
judgment appears, with which is connected the second 
personal coming of the Saviour. When Jesus comes, 
this earth will undergo a revolution by fire. In II. 
Pet. iii. 10, we have the following: "But the day of 
the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the 
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the 
elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also 



ADVENTISM AND MATERIALISM. 1 43 

and the works that are therein shall be burnt up." 
When that event takes place, woe to the man who is 
contented to remain on the hills of Judea ! When 
Jesus comes, the work of redemption will have been 
completed ; for he will come without a sin offering unto 
salvation. He will come to take vengeance on them 
who know not God and have not obeyed the gospel of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. 

A few years ago my attention was attracted to a 
small volume of lectures by Archbishop Whately, 
found in the library of Harvard University. I remem- 
bered Whately as the great logician, and concluded to 
read this volume. It was devoted to the intermediate 
state, and all his efforts were in the direction of materi- 
alism. He insisted that there is no conscious existence 
for man between death and the resurrection. His 
arguments appeared to my mind very illogical, although 
presented by a great logician. His method of investiga- 
tion appeared directly the opposite of the true scientific 
method of interpreting the Bible. One of the most 
objectionable features of modern Adventism is its ma- 
terialistic tendency. We object to the position of the 
Soul-sleeper, for the following reasons : 

1. It is opposed to the intuitions of man's rational 
nature. By it, man is reduced to the level of the 
lower animal. The spirit is regarded as nothing more 
than refined matter, which at death, shares the fate of 
the body. This theory does not make any definite 
distinction between the spirit and the body, which human 
intelligence must, necessarily, make. The Greek phi- 
losophers clearly distinguished the spirit from the body. 
According to Socrates, the hand which a man uses is 
not the man. The same thing can be said with refer- 



144 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

ence to all the members of the body. This being- 
true, the body, as a whole, is not the man proper, 
but that which the man uses. The ideas of space, 
and time, of the true, the beautiful and the good, 
must, by the Soul-sleeper, be referred to a sensuous 
origin, for if the spirit is only breath and perishes at 
death, there can be no thoughts which do not originate 
in sensation. 

2. The Soul-sleeping theory destroys man's identity. 
It is a truth well known to physiologists, that every 
particle of matter of which the human system is com- 
posed, by some kind of transmutation, passes off every 
seven years, and its place is supplied with new material. 
The heart of a man changes every thirty days, and the 
heart of a woman in less time than thirty days. Now, 
if a man is a being purely material, and every particle of 
matter which to-day enters into his composition will 
in seven years pass off, and new matter, not being the 
same to it, and man being nothing but matter, he is, 
of necessity, a different being, and his identity is lost. 
The Soul-sleeper may answer, that he does not claim 
that man is entirely material. He will, then, have to 
renounce his theory of the intermediate state. If, at 
death, man's spirit ceases to exist, and shares the 
fate of the body, then man is as he was before he was 
created. Before his creation he was not at all ; so, ac- 
cording to the theory under consideration, man after 
death, will not be at all. How, then, can there be a 
resurrection of the dead ? The Soul-sleeper may be- 
lieve in a re-creation ; but I can not see how he can, 
logically, believe in the resurrection. 

3. The theory of the Soul-sleeper is in direct opposi- 
tion to some of the plainest declarations of the Bible. 




ADVENTISM AND MATERIALISM. 1 45 

We learn from I. Thess. v, 23, that man is composed 
of body, soul and spirit. Paul, in II. Cor. iv. 16, 
says: "Though the outward man perishes, the inward 
man is renewed day by day." The outward man is the 
body; the inward man the spirit. Though the body 
perishes, the spirit is renewed day by day. When the 
body dies, the inward man, that is, the spirit, leaves 
the body, and goes to God who gave it, and is present 
with the Lord. At the transfiguration of Christ, 
Moses was present from the intermediate state (Matt, 
xvii.). The Adventists claim that he was raised from 
the dead ; but this would make Moses, and not Christ, 
the first-born from the dead. The fact that Moses 
came from the intermediate state, clearly teaches the 
conscious existence of man between death and the 
resurrection. 

Christ and his apostles were opposed to the doctrine 
of unconsciousness after death. The Sadducees be- 
lieved that doctrine, but the Pharisees were opposed to 
it. Jesus endorsed the position of the Pharisees on 
that subject. When he died he commended his spirit 
to God, and gave no intimation that it would go to the 
grave. Paul claimed to be a Pharisee on the great doc- 
trine of a future life. It is claimed by a Soul-sleeper 
that man must be unconscious after death, for death is, 
in the Bible, compared to a sleep. If death is a sleep, 
Jesus repudiated Soul-sleeping in these words, "We 
shall never die." 

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus very 
plainly teaches the conscious existence of man between 
death and the resurrection (Luke xvi. 19-31). It is 
claimed by the Materialist that this parable has refer- 



I46 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

ence to the Jews and Gentiles. This can not be, for 
the following reasons : 

1. Both the rich man and Lazarus died ; so the 
scene is placed in death. If Lazarus represents the 
conversion of the Gentiles, he should have passed from 
death to life, instead of passing from life to death. 

2. If death, in the case of Lazarus, means conversion, 
it means the same in the case of the rich man ; for he 
died also, i. e. , in like manner. To whom was he con- 
verted? 

3. There was a great gulf between the two parties, 
so that passage to and fro was impossible. The wall 
of partition between Jews and Gentiles was taken 
down. 

4. Under the gospel there is no difference between 
Jews and Gentiles (Acts xv. 8, 9) ; so the parable can 
not denote simply the condition of Jews and Gentiles. 

5. If the rich man represented the whole house of 
Israel, what is meant by the language, ' ' my father's 
house "? 

6. Who was his father ? It could not have been 
Abraham, for he said, " Father Abraham, send Lazarus 
to my father's house." The Jews always called Abra- 
ham father, but this man also called another father. 
He could not have represented simply the whole house 
cf Israel, for he had five brothers at home, at his 
father's house. 

7. The Jews and Gentiles, as such, can not be in- 
dicated in the parable, for the Jews never called the 
Gentiles brethren. The scene in the parable is laid in 
the realms of death, and the condition of man after 
death is clearly indicated. 

The three Greek words, tartarus, hades, and gehenna> 



ADVENTISM AND MATERIALISM. 1 47 

are represented in the Bible by the one English word, 
hell. The word gehenna alone denotes the receptacle 
of the wicked after the resurrection. Hades simply 
denotes the unseen, and includes tartarus and paradise. 
The rich man is in tartarus, and Lazarus in paradise. 
At the Judgment hades will be destroyed, and the 
wicked consigned to gehenna. Death and hades will be 
cast into a lake of fire, which will be the second death 
(Rev. xx. 14). 



CHAPTER XIII. 

JOHN WESLEY AND THE METHODISTS. 

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was the 
son of Samuel Wesley, a learned rector of the Episco- 
pal Church, and his saintly wife, Susannah. He was 
born at Epvvorth, England, in 1703, and died in Lon- 
don, in 1 79 1. He lived almost through the eighteenth 
century. This noted reformer was of a strong stock. 
His father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and his 
mother's father, were ministers who had been perse- 
cuted for fidelity to conviction. His father and mother 
had dissented from the dissenters, and from conviction 
had gone back to the Established Church. He was de- 
prived of support by his friends, and went to Oxford 
with only two pounds and sixteen shillings. John 
Wesley's older brother, Samuel, was much opposed to 
the movement of his brother, and remonstrated with 
his mother for uniting with John's congregation. 

When John Wesley was six years old, his father's 
house was set on fire by some profligate persons who 
had been rebuked for their conduct. All the children 

had been brought out except little John, who had been 

148 



JOHN WESLEY AND THE METHODISTS. 1 49 

left in the burning building. He could not be reached 
through the door, but climbed to a window, and was 
lifted out. This event ever made a serious impression 
upon both him and his mother, and they felt that he 
was reserved for a great work. 

In 1720, at the age of seventeen, John Wesley 
went to Oxford University, where he remained until 
1727, and received the degree of Master of Arts. He 
was distinguished at the University especially for his 
logical attainments and skill. He had determined to 
be a minister, and his pious mother had written him 
some beautiful letters in reference to worldly pleasures. 
One of her rules is especially important: " Whatever 
weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your 
conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off 
your relish for spiritual things — in short, which increases 
the strength and authority of your body over your 
mind — that is a sin to you, however innocent in itself." 
The books which greatly interested Wesley while at 
college, were "The Imitation of Christ," by Thomas 
a Kempis, and l( Holy Living and Dying," by Jeremy 
Taylor. 

While John Wesley was two years away from Ox- 
ford, assisting his father, his brother Charles and others 
had formed a religious society at the University. On 
his return John became a member of this society, and 
soon its leader. They were ridiculed by the young 
men of Oxford, and called Bible Bigots, the Holy 
Club, ahd Methodists. This last name continued to 
adhere to the followers of Wesley after Methodism had 
become a very different thing from what it was at Ox- 
ford. The movement of Wesley and his associates at 
Oxford was very necessary, for religion, at that time, 



150 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

was at a very low ebb in England. The reaction, after 
the fall of Puritanism, had introduced much worldliness 
into the Established Church. Some of the ministers 
received their pay without visiting their churches. A 
bishop boasted that he had only seen his diocese once. 
The English clergy was the most lifeless in Europe, 
and there was a general religious declension. About 
that time gin was introduced into England, which gave 
a great impetus to drunkenness. The gin-shops in 
London advertized that they would make a man drunk 
for a penny, and dead drunk for twopence. 

The Wesleyan movement did much to stem the tide 
of corruption which was at that time so fearfully visi- 
ble among all classes in England. It did much to re- 
form the Established Church. Through the influence 
of Howard and others, the prisons were reformed, and 
wisdom and clemency were infused into the penal laws. 
General Oglethorpe, through his sympathy for persons 
imprisoned for debt, had founded in America an asylum 
for that class. The colony had received the name of 
Georgia, in honor of the king. In 1735, John Wesley 
was invited to go to Georgia to preach the gospel to the 
Indians. He agreed to go, in case his mother's consent 
could be obtained. When consulted on the subject, 
this noble woman replied : ' * Had I twenty sons, I 
should rejoice though all were so employed, and though 
I never saw them more." The Wesleys remained only 
two years in America, and returned to England. They 
were succeeded in Georgia by their friend and associate 
in work, George Whitefield, the celebrated evangelist. 

In his voyage to America, John Wesley had come 
in contact with the Moravians, in whom he had become 
greatly interested. Soon after he returned to England 



JOHN WESLEY AND THE METHODISTS. 1 5 I 

he hunted them up, and even visited Herrnhut, Ger- 
many, the center of their operations. There he con- 
versed with Christian David and Zinzendorf, the great 
Moravian leaders. These Moravians were mystics, and 
from them John Wesley obtained his mythical theory 
of conversion. The object of Count Zinzendorf was to 
produce a reformation in the Lutheran Church ; so 
John Wesley desired to reform the Episcopal Church. 
He urged many objections against separating his socie- 
ties from the Established Church, and remained a 
Churchman until his death. While Wesley agreed 
with the Moravians on the subject of conversion, he 
did not agree with them on some other points ; and in 
1740 there was a formal and final separation between 
him and them. 

About this time there was a separation between the 
disciples of Wesley and those of Whitefield. White- 
field was a rigid Calvinist, and Wesley was an Armin- 
ian. Some of the finest works of Wesley were 
directed against the Calvinistic doctrine of election and 
predestination. The Calvinistic Methodists became 
alienated from him, and after that there were two dis- 
tinct bodies, one led by John Wesley, and the other by 
George Whitefield. 

It is said that the first Methodist chapel was built in 
1739. The Methodist societies had become so numer- 
ous, that in 1742 Wesley was compelled to employ a 
lay ministry. This, for a time, was very much against 
his wishes. He was an Episcopal preacher, and had 
been taught to believe in the apostolic succession of 
bishops. The bishops refused to ordain men for his 
work, and he was compelled to resort to some expedi- 
ent. One bishop, however, wiser than the rest, or- 



152 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH 

dained a man to help Wesley, with this injunction: "I 
ordain you to help that good man, Mr. Wesley, that he 
may not kill himself with work." When Wesley 
learned that Thomas Maxfield had gone to preaching 
without ordination, he was displeased. His mother 
insisted that Maxfield had as good a right to preach as 
her own son. When Wesley heard this man preach, 
he was satisfied, and declared that it was of God. The 
following dialogue, in reference to lay preaching, is said 
to have taken place between Charles Wesley and the 
Archbishop of Dublin : 

Bishop. — " I am surprised at your employing lay- 
men." 

Wesley. — " It is your fault, my Lord." 

Bishop.— "My fault?" 

Wesley. — "Yes — yours and your brethren's. You 
hold your peace, and the stones cry out." 

Bishop. — "But I hear that they are unlearned 
men." 

Wesley. — "True! They are, in general. So the 
dumb ass rebukes the prophet." 

The first Methodist conference is said to have con- 
vened in 1744, and John Wesley insisted upon diligent 
study on the part of his ministers. He could have no 
patience with a preacher who did not study. 

A number of Wesleyans emigrated to America, 
and spread Methodism through all the Colonies. At 
the close of the Revolutionary War, the Methodists of 
America demanded the ordinances at the hands of their 
preachers. As these men did not feel authorized to 
administer them, something had to be done. Wesley 
had studied Lord King's work on "The Primitive 
Church," and, like John Calvin, reached the conclusion 



JOHN WESLEY AND THE METHODISTS. 1 53 

that bishop and elder in the Primitive Church repre- 
sented the same official position. So, in 1784, with 
the assistance of others, he ordained Thomas Coke su- 
perintendent of the Methodist societies in America, 
and empowered him to confer the same office on Fran- 
cis Asbury. This proceeding offended some of Mr. 
Wesley's bost friends, and greatly excited the officials 
of the English Church. It was looked upon as a 
schism, even by Charles Wesley. 

John Wesley was certainly one of the greatest men 
of his age, and one of the greatest organizers of any 
age. His influence over men was great, and his dili- 
gence scarcely paralleled since the days of Paul. He 
was not married until he was more than fifty years old, 
and then married a rich widow with four children. 
The marriage was very unfortunate, and she never sym- 
pathized with him in his work. It is said that she would 
make fun of him while he was preaching. 

The following are some of the objections we have to 
the position of the Methodists : 

1. The name Methodist was a nick-name, and did 
not properly represent the work of Wesley. The 
Methodic! were physicians in ancient Rome, and the 
title was applied to the Wesleys because they visited 
the sick. The Methodists have been the most unmeth- 
odical people in the world ; for they laid aside old 
methods, and adopted any method they thought wise, 
-in order to accomplish their work. John Wesley was 
opposed to his followers taking his name. 

2. While the Methodists acknowledge the Bible to 
be a sufficient rule of both faith and practice, they have 
made, in addition to it, an authoritative human creed. 



154 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

They have thus made void the word of God by their 
traditions. 

3. John Wesley claimed that bishop and elder in the 
Apostolic Church represented the same office. Not- 
withstanding this fact, the Methodists have one of the 
most rigid ecclesiasticisms of Christendom. The Meth- 
odists have frequently divided on account of their 
church polity. Some regarded the Methodist Episco- 
pal organization as anti-protestant, and organized the 
Methodist Protestant Church. 

4. The Methodists teach the doctrine of justifica- 
tion by faith only. Article IX. of the Methodist Dis- 
cipline, on ''The Justification of Man," reads thus: 
1 ' We are accounted righteous before God only for the 
merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, 
and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, 
that we are justified by faith only, is a most wholesome 
doctrine, and very full of comfort." It appears to me 
that Jas. xi. 24 clearly contradicts this language. It 
reads thus : ' * Ye see, then, how that by works a man 
is justified, and not by faith only. " While Paul teaches 
the doctrine of justification by faith, James just as 
clearly teaches that we are not justified by faith only, 
but by faith perfected by works. Paul and James har- 
monize, for we are justified by both faith and works. 

5. The Methodists carry the doctrine of expediency 
to a great extreme. A Methodist preacher will preach 
a sermon against immersion, and the same day immerse 
a person to keep him from uniting with some other 
church. On this subject, it would be well for our 
Methodist friends to harmonize their preaching and 
their practice. They should either quit preaching 
against immersion, or quit practicing it. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

ROGER WILLIAMS AND THE BAPTISTS. 

Roger Williams, the founder of the colony of 
Rhode Island and the Baptist Church in America, was 
born in Wales, in 1599, an< ^ died in Rhode Island, in 
1683. He was a young Welshman of great enterprise, 
and in early life went to London, where he was very 
successful in taking short notes of sermons and speeches. 
He soon attracted the attention of Sir Edward Coke, 
and became a favorite pupil of that distinguished gentle- 
man. Williams is described at that time as a young 
man lovely in carriage, godly and zealous, having pre- 
cious gifts. He was sent by his rich patron to Pembroke 
College, Cambridge, where he graduated, with the de- 
gree of A. B., in 1627. He was educated for the min- 
istry, and became a clergyman of the Church of Eng- 
land. His opposition to the laws requiring conformity 
to the Established Church, drew upon him the wrath of 
Archbishop Laud, and he was driven out of England. 

He came to America in 163 1, a Puritan of the ex- 
treme wing. The great doctrine which he had em- 
braced as the result of careful investigation, was com- 

'55 



I56 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

plete freedom of conscience in matters of religion. He 
was the forerunner of religious freedom in America. The 
magistrate, he claimed, should legislate against crime, 
but not against opinion ; should punish guilt, but never 
violate inward freedom. He would place all forms of 
religion upon an equality, and would not permit the 
magistrate to compel attendance upon any of them, 
but leave such matters to the conscience of the indi- 
vidual. Williams could not unite with the Puritans of 
Boston, for they entertained views directly the opposite 
of his own. They had formed themselves into a kind of 
theocracy, and advocated some of the doctrines which 
had driven them from England. In 1635 the Puritans 
banished Roger Williams from their colony, and dur- 
ing a rigorous winter he wandered for fourteen weeks, 
almost without food or shelter. The warmest place he 
could find was the hut of Massasoit. A few years ago, 
when in Salem, Mass., I was shown the church in 
which Roger Williams preached. The Puritans now 
take pleasure in showing all relics pertaining to the 
great preacher whom their ancestors banished from his 
home in the midst of one of New England's severest 
winters. Williams was far in advance of his age, and 
will always be remembered as the earliest advocate in 
this country of complete liberty of conscience. 

After his banishment from Massachusetts, Roger 
Williams and his associates formed a colony in what is 
now known as Rhode Island, and named it Providence, 
as God had providentially delivered them from all their 
dangers. Their conduct towards the Indians was such 
that they won the affections of all the neighboring 
tribes. Williams did not show a revengeful spirit 
towards his persecutors, but several times saved them 



ROGER WILLIAMS AND THE BAPTISTS. 1 5/ 

from destruction by the Indians. He so heaped coals" 
of fire upon their heads, that the Puritan governor vis- 
ited him at his new home. 

Roger Williams was a conscientious student of the 
Bible, and appeared willing to renounce everything un- 
scriptural. He soon found that the doctrine of infant 
baptism was not found in the Bible, so he rejected that 
dogma. It was not long until he reached the conclu- 
sion that sprinkling and pouring were substitutes for 
baptism, and really no baptism at all. He was a dili- 
gent student of the mission of John the Baptist, and 
found that John baptized in the river Jordan, and at 
places where there was much water. He was very 
much impressed with the baptism of Jesus, which was 
performed by John in the Jordan. Williams wanted 
to be baptized, but could find no preacher to baptize 
him. Like John Wesley, he had been educated in the 
Church of England, and believed in a regularly ordained 
ministry. But necessity is the mother of invention ; 
and as Wesley had to employ a lay ministry, so 
Williams had to be baptized by a layman. He had in 
early life, come in contact with English Baptists, who 
had been refugees in Holland, and who had authorized 
one of their own number to baptize. In March, 1639, 
Ezekiel Holliman was selected, who baptized Roger 
Williams, Williams then baptized Holliman and ten 
others, and thus formed the first Baptist Church in 
America. It is yet known as the First Baptist Church 
of Providence, Rhode Island, and it is in a flourishing 
condition. It is claimed by some that Williams after- 
wards withdrew from the Baptists on account of this 
irregular procedure, but this probably was not his mo- 
tive, as he wrote late in life a work against an ordained 



I58 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

ministry. The Baptists claimed that baptism is not valid 
unless performed by a regularly ordained clergyman. 
How can they reconcile this position with the trans- 
action at the origin of the Baptist Church in America ? 
Here is a break in the Baptist evolution chain, and they 
will certainly find much difficulty in bridging the chasm. 

Rhode Island was a pure democracy until 1643. 
Roger Williams was sent to England to procure a char- 
ter, which he did, and returned in 1644. New troubles 
caused him to go to England again in 1651, where 
he remained three years, returning again to Rhode 
Island in 1654. While in England the last time, he 
studied with John Milton, and other distinguished men 
of that country. On his return to Rhode Island, he 
was made President of the Colony, which position he 
held nearly three years. He died in 1683, and was buried 
near the spot where he landed. The fruit-bearing tree 
which sprang up from the grave of Roger Williams, 
has caused scientists to ask the question, Who ate 
Roger Williams ? We can not answer the question in 
reference to the physical remains of this great man ; 
but we are certain that the Americans have generally 
appropriated his principles of civil and religious liberty. 

The Baptists have grown rapidly since the time of 
Roger Williams, and they have become one of the most 
influential religious bodies in the United States. They 
are a zealous people, and we believe that they have 
done great good ; but, in the following particulars, we 
are forced to conclude that the Baptists are unscriptural. 

I. There is no authority in the Bible for a Baptist 
Church. Christ is the head of the Church, even as the 
husband is the head of the wife. The Church should 
take the name of Christ, her husband. 



ROGER WILLIAMS AND THE BAPTISTS. 1 59 

2. The Baptists, as a body, do not take the Bible 
as their only rule of faith and practice, but place too 
much stress upon a human creed. 

3. They adopt the mythical theory of conversion, 
and reject the plain teaching of the Bible on the sub- 
ject. By the mystics, we mean those who believe in 
the direct impact of the Holy Spirit, in revelations at 
the mourners' bench, and in getting religion as a kind 
of foreign substance sent directly from heaven. 

4. The Baptists are too strictly the followers of 
John Calvin. It is true that in England the General 
Baptists are opposed to Calvinism, while the Particular 
Baptists are Calvinists. In this country the Free-will 
Baptists were organized in opposition to Calvinism. 

5. They deny the possibility of apostasy from 
Christ. This is about the same as denying the freedom 
of the will ; and it is certainly opposed to the teaching 
of the New Testament, which constantly warns Chris- 
tians against the dangers of apostasy. 

6. There is no scriptural authority for their doctrine 
of close communion. The English Baptists generally 
oppose close communion, and some distinguished Bap- 
tist preachers in this country also oppose it. 

7. The Baptists reject the scriptural design of bap- 
tism, and go in direct opposition to the address of Si- 
mon Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 38). 

8. They teach the doctrine of justification by faith 
only, and place repentance before faith. This is un- 
scriptural, for James says that justification is not by 
faith only, and Paul says that whatever is not of faith, 
is sin. Justification is not, then, by faith alone, and 
repentance does not precede faith, for without faith it 
is not possible to please God. 



l60 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

9, They have substituted what they call "a Chris- 
tian experience" for the good confession. They re- 
quire a candidate for Christian baptism to relate his 
experience, and give them assurance that his sins have 
been pardoned, before he has obeyed that form of doc- 
trine required in the New Testament. A Spiritualist, 
who does not believe in the divinity of Christ, might 
relate such an experience. If you take simply the 
feelings of men for the criterion of truth, you will cer- 
tainly have all kinds of doctrines preached by all kinds 
of men. 

10. The Baptists advocate apostolic succession, and 
claim that they can trace, in a regular line, a succession 
of Baptist churches to the present time. In this posi- 
tion they are certainly mistaken. I will be charitable, 
and state, as a definite proposition, that what is known 
to historians as the Baptist Church has not existed in 
this world more than five hundred years. It is certain 
that no such church existed before the thirteenth cen- 
tury. It is true that the Roman Catholic Church for a 
long time practiced immersion, and the Greek Church 
at the present time practices nothing else ; but would 
the Baptists be willing to acknowledge these as Baptist 
Churches ? The Baptists will have to give up the doc- 
trine of apostolic succession, for the thing is absurd in 
itself. The apostles were witnesses, and a witness can 
have no successor. 

I am glad to know that some of the leading Baptist 
preachers in this country are disposed to give up the 
absurd theory of succession. One great Baptist scholar 
has said that no Baptist of large learning and sober 
judgment claims to be able to establish from history a 
regular succession of Baptist Churches from the apostles 



ROGER WILLIAMS AND THE BAPTISTS. l6l 

to the present time. The most eminent professors of 
church history in the leading Baptist Theological Sem- 
inaries, appear to be against the theory of succession. 
I only have space to quote one. Dr. J. W. Buckland, 
Professor of Church History in Rochester Theological 
Seminary, says: " My historical investigations make it 
perfectly clear to me that a continuous line of Baptist 
churches from the time of the apostles till the Reforma- 
tion period, has never been established. Orchard's at- 
tempt to do it is sadly weak, and would disgrace any 
historical writer. He quoted the fathers as holding 
views which they condemn, ignores many facts which 
would utterly disgrace his position, and shows through- 
out the folly of working from secondary sources of in- 
formation. . The valuable collection of Benedict is 
marred with the same faults, and Mr. Ray's Baptist 
Succession falls into like errors. I am fully persuaded 
that taking Baptist churches in the strict modern sense, 
Baptist Succession can never be historically established. " 
No Baptist Church or Association would acknowl- 
edge as Baptists those sects claimed by Mr. Ray and 
others. The Novatians, Donatists and Paulicians were 
no more Baptists than were the Roman Catholics before 
the thirteenth century. In all literature written from 
the birth of Christ to a few centuries ago, there is no 
trace of the Baptist Church. I can go further, and say, 
There is not a trace of it to be found in the New Tes- 
tament. There is no allusion to it in any literature 
from the apostolic age to the thirteenth century. 
When we consider these facts, how absurd it is to hear 
any man talk of tracing the Baptist Church back to 
John the Baptist. 



CHAPTER XV. 

ALEXANDER CAMPBELL AND THE DISCIPLES. 

The name of Alexander Campbell is inseparably 
connected with the Reformation of the Nineteenth 
century. If Luther and the Reformation of the Six- 
teenth century represent the rising sun, Campbell and 
that of the Nineteenth represent him as advancing rap- 
idly towards his meridian glory. With Luther, the 
Church started out of the wilderness ; with Campbell, 
it completed that journey, and it is now on the way 
to its millennial glory. 

Alexander Campbell was born in Antrim county, 
Ireland, in Sept., 1788, and died at Bethany, West Vir- 
ginia, in 1866. His ancestors on his father's side were 
Scotch, and his grandfather, Archibald, was a soldier in 
the British army under General Wolfe. He was in early 
life a Romanist ; but after the taking of Quebec he re- 
turned to his native country, and, abjuring Romanism, 
became a member of the Church of England. His 
father, Thomas Campbell, was of medium size, com- 
pactly built, and was considered very handsome. In 

early life he acquired a great love for the Bible, and 

16? 



ALEXANDER CAMPBELL AND THE DISCIPLES. 1 63 

became a diligent student of it. He became a member 
of the Secession branch of the Presbyterian Church, 
and was anxious to prepare for the ministry. His 
father for a time opposed it, but finally consented. 
While at college he was a classmate of Thomas Camp- 
bell, the poet, who was also his cousin. Thomas Camp- 
bell, who had a lovely disposition, had great influence 
over his father, but did not always escape his father's 
hasty temper. While he was preparing for the minis- 
try, he was permitted to conduct worship in his father's 
family; and on one occasion he kept them kneeling so 
long that the old man was in great pain on account of 
his rheumatism. When they arose Thomas Campbell 
got a caning from his father on account of having kept 
them so long on their knees. 

While teaching school and preparing for the minis- 
try, Thomas Campbell became acquainted with Miss 
Jane Corneigle, to whom he was afterwards married. 
Her ancestors were French Huguenots, who had fled 
from France on account of the revocation of the Edict 
of Nantes by Louis XIV, She had been brought up 
by a pious mother, and was a woman of great force of 
character. Her son Alexander is said to have been 
very much like her. 

Thomas Campbell took great interest in the educa- 
tion of Alexander, who was his eldest child. The boy 
was not at all precocious. Bacon was a philosopher in 
his boyhood, and Calvin a preacher at eighteen; but 
Alexander Campbell in his boyhood loved out-door 
sports much better than he loved his books. One in- 
teresting anecdote is told of his boyhood. At the age 
of nine his father added to his other studies the French 
language. One day he went out under a shade-tree to 



I64 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

get a lesson in "The Adventures of Telemachus. " He 
became tired, and dropped asleep. A cow that was 
near by devoured it, and Thomas Campbell declared 
that the cow had more French in her stomach than 
Alexander had in his head. Thomas Campbell wisely 
put his son at manual labor, and it was not long until 
the intellect asserted itself. Alexander was prepared 
by his father for the University of Glasgow, and he be- 
came one of the best students in the University*. He 
was especially fond of history, philosophy and the 
Bible. While a student he heard the Haldanes preach, 
Carson, and a number of the most distinguished of dis- 
senting ministers. Their views of reform made a deep 
impression upon his mind. 

On account of failing health, Thomas Campbell 
came to America in 1807, an d two years afterwards 
Alexander and the rest of the family followed. They 
had a rough voyage, and at one time almost despaired 
of life. It was then that Alexander resolved that in 
case they reached America in safety, he would devote his 
life to the Gospel ministry. He also composed an inter- 
esting Doem on ' ' The Ocean. " I will ouote a few lines : 

Ere yet, in brightness, had the :;. 
In Eastern skies the course of 
Ere yet the stars in dazzling beauty shone, 
Or ye:, from Cnaos dark, old earth was won; 
When darkr.. the deep extended 

ill reigned, unbounded yet by 
vful stillness filled the boundless space, 

~-d wild confusion sat on Nature's face, 
Old Ocean then in silent youth did str:. 
And countless atoms on its bosom ".: 

There was a poetical tendency in the Campbell fam- 
ily, and Thomas Campbell, the poet, produced two of 



ALEXANDER CAMPBELL AND THE DISCIPLES. 1 65 

the best poems in the English language. All persons 
who read English will be interested in " Hohenlinden " 
and " Lochiel's Warning. " 

The Campbells settled in Washington county, Pa., 
not far from Bethany, W. Va., which afterwards be- 
came the home of Alexander. For a short time Thomas 
Campbell was pastor of a Presbyterian Church ; but the 
Presbyterians became dissatisfied with his position that 
the Bible is a sufficient guide to both faith and practice, 
so he ceased to be a minister among them. He formed 
a small congregation at Brush Run, and continued his 
work of reform. By a careful study of the Bible, Al- 
exander reached the conclusion that immersion was the 
only scriptural act for Christian baptism, and that In- 
fant Baptism was not authorized by the word of God. 
In 18 1 2, Alexander and his father, including nearly all 
the congregation at Brush Run, were immersed by a 
Baptist preacher. Not long after this they united with 
the Redstone Baptist Association, with a written agree- 
ment that they were not to subscribe to a human creed. 
I have often heard it stated that Alexander Campbell 
was expelled from the Baptist Church. Such was not 
the case. It is true that he had bitter opposition in 
the Redstone Association on the part of those wedded 
to a human creed ; but he was never expelled from that 
Association. He formed a church at Wellsburg, in 
which he took membership, and he and the Wells- 
burg church united with the Mahoning Association. 
He was afterwards appointed a delegate from that As- 
sociation to the Redstone Association. The majority 
of the Mahoning Association were favorable to Mr. 
Campbell's views of reform. 

In the early part of the nineteenth century, there 



1 66 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

were a number of union movements in the Union States. 
They seemed to spring up simultaneously in different 
parts of the Union. The most noted of these were the 
Northern, inaugurated by James O' Kelly, of North 
Carolina, from the Methodists ; the Eastern, led by 
Abner Jones, of Vermont, from the Baptists; the 
Kentucky movement, under the leadership of the cele- 
brated Barton W. Stone, from the Presbyterians. Mr. 
Campbell's tours through Kentucky soon brought him 
in contact with Barton W. Stone and the great move- 
ment in Kentucky. These reformers, knowing the 
importance of Christian union, carefully compared 
views, and soon found that there was no reason why 
they should not be united. So the Christians and Dis- 
ciples became one body in Kentucky. They also 
united in other States. I preached for a number of 
years in the city of Scranton, Pa., which was within 
the bounds of the Pennsylvania Christian Conference. 
This body, with its two thousand members, formed a 
union with the Disciples of Christ. No movement since 
the days of the apostles has spread so rapidly as the 
one we are describing. The Disciples of Christ now 
number somewhere between seven and eight hundred 
thousand. 

Alexander Campbell was a successful writer, as well 
as a great preacher. But few men have written more 
than did he. His pen was so prolific that it is difficult 
to see how he could find time even for the mechanical 
work required. In addition to his editorial work and 
the preparation for publication ol his numerous de- 
bates, he also wrote many books. In 1823, Mr. Camp- 
bell commenced the publication of the Christian Bap- 
tist, and published seven volumes of it. For fear that 



ALEXANDER CAMPBELL AND THE DISCIPLES. 1 6/ 

the name " Christian Baptists " would be given to the 
advocates of the Reformation, he discontinued this 
publication, and commenced the Millennial Harbinger, 
which he continued to edit and publish until his death. 

Alexander Campbell was certainly one of the most 
noted debaters of modern times. His three greatest 
debates were with Robert Owen, the infidel ; Bishop 
Purcell, the Roman Catholic ; and N. L. Rice, the 
Presbyterian. He encountered Mr. Owen in 1828, 
and never was an infidel more overwhelmingly de- 
feated. He presented certain laws of nature 
which he supposed would solve all the problems 
of society. Mr. Campbell showed that these would 
apply to a goat as well as to a man. Mr. Owen, like 
most infidels, was ignorant of psychology, and Mr. 
Campbell was a thorough Lockian philosopher. The 
infidel could not explain the origin of a belief in God ; 
Mr. Campbell showed that God revealed himself to 
man, and that all nature proves the truth of this reve- 
lation. The Campbell and Purcell debate took place 
in 1837. While Mr. Campbell identified Roman Cath- 
olicism with "the Little Horn of Daniel's vision, the 
Man of Sin of Paul, and the Babylon of John/' even 
Mr. Purcell himself showed that he felt the force of the 
identification. Mr. Campbell, in order to show that 
Roman Catholicism considered marriage on the part of 
the clergy a greater sin than concubinage, quoted from 
the " Moral Theology of Liguori." Mr. Purcell denied 
that the quotation was to be found in the writings of 
Liguori. A committee was appointed to investigate the 
matter, and found the quotation just as Mr. Campbell 
had made it. 

Possibly the greatest debate Mr. Campbell ever had 



168 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

was with N. L. Rice, in 1843. There was great ex^ 
citement, and much discussion among the people. 
When the friends of Mr. Rice would accuse the Disci- 
ples of feeding upon Campbell, they would retort by 
stating that it was stronger food than Rice. Mr. Camp- 
bell was a fine linguist, and thoroughly understood the 
principles of language. While he spent his time in 
presenting grand principles, Mr. Rice spent his in find- 
ing exceptions. Mr. Campbell stated that no transla- 
tor had ever rendered bapto, or any of its family of 
words, to sprinkle. Mr. Rice thought he found an ex- 
ception in Rev. xix. 13, where, in the ancient Syriac 
version, the word sprinkled is used. He also quoted 
the same from the Vulgate, and from Origen. He 
thought that he had his opponent in a dilemma. Mr. 
Campbell so well understood the laws of language that 
he declared that there had been an early version con- 
taining the Greek for sprinkle, from which those trans- 
lations have been made. When Leverrier saw certain 
disturbances in the movements of the planets, he con- 
jectured that in a certain part of the heavens an un- 
known planet existed. A German astronomer pointed 
his telescope to that part of the heavens, and found the 
planet Neptune. Mr. Campbell inferred that a certain 
manuscript had existed, and the great German Tisch- 
endorf, in 1865, found a manuscript containing the 
word that Mr. Campbell had declared the manuscript 
must have contained from which Origen quoted. 

In 1840 Mr. Campbell founded Bethany College, 
and presided over it during the remainder of his life. 
He was a great advocate of education, and had very 
comprehensive views on the subject. He believed in 
giving more prominence to the physical sciences than 



ALEXANDER CAMPBELL AND THE DISCIPLES. 1 69 

was given by most institutions. He clearly saw that 
one of the greatest mistakes in the modern system of 
-education was a failure to properly educate the moral 
nature. He believed in making the Bible a text-book in 
college, and did not permit any student to graduate who 
was not thoroughly acquainted with the Sacred Oracles, 
Those who wish to understand fully the life of one 
of the greatest men of modern times, should study 
"The Memoirs of Alexander Campbell, by Robert 
Richardson," and "The Home Life and Reminiscences 
of A. Campbell, by his Wife." The following acrostic, 
by Jannette, gives a summary of the work and char- 
acter of this great man : 

" A-giant intellect, a well-balanced brain, 
L-ogical mind, making mysteries plain ; 
E-nquiring the why ? then solving the doubt 
X-enophon of great fame knew naught about. 
A- warfare so grand and holy as thine — 
N-or gained, as did'st thou, favor divine; 
D-uty to God, and oar duty to man, 
E-ver thy watchword while leading the way — 
R-ight well didst thou follow the ' Gospel plan,' 

C-arry the warfare on against sin, 
A-nd bright laurels for "Christian Unity" win ; 
M-usty traditions and doctrines o'erthrow, 
P-rove from God's word, that mortals may know, 
B-y faith and obedience pardoning love — 
E-njoy by the same sweet peace from above. 
I^-ong, long will thy name and thy deeds be known, 
I^-ong as Jehovah sits upon His throne." 

I will now briefly state the position of the Disciples i 
1. They take the Bible as their only rule of re- 
ligious faith and practice. The Bible is acknowleged 
by all Christians to be of divine origin ; and it is im- 
possible for a man to produce a standard equal to the 



I70 STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 

divine standard. Anything less than the Bible is not 
sufficiently authoritative, and anything more is an effort 
to add to that which God has made perfect. A pecu- 
liarity of the Disciples is, that while they take the 
Bible as a rule of faith and practice, they draw a dis- 
tinction between the authority of the New Testament 
and that of the Old, not made by other religious 
bodies. They accept the Old Testament as true, and 
essential to a proper understanding of the New ; but 
the New they regard as the proper book of authority 
for Christians. It teaches the terms of pardon, and 
the duties of a Christian life. See "Our Position," 
by Isaac Errett. 

2. The Disciples accept Christ as their creed. They 
believe in a personal creed, and not in a dogmatic 
theory. The word creed is from the Latin credo, I be- 
lieve, and they require faith with the whole heart in 
Christ, the Christian's creed. 

3. The Disciples of Christ have always opposed 
sectarianism, plead for a union of Christians, and a 
complete restoration of Primitive Christianity. In or- 
der to this, they reject all human names, and insist that 
the followers of Christ should now be designated as 
they were in apostolic times. 

4. They apply the Scientific method to the inter- 
pretation of the Bible, and oppose the Mystic and 
Dogmatic methods. What Bacon was to the Scientific 
world, Alexander Campbell was to the Religious. 
Lord Bacon was the first to apply the inductive method 
to science ; Alexander Campbell was the first to apply 
the same to religion. 

5. There is a tendency among Protestants to disre- 
gard the authority of the church, and look upon it 



ALEXANDER CAMPBELL AND THE DISCIPLES. I/I 

simply as a moral society. The disciples believe the 
church divine, and that it is as important to obey the 
bride as the bridegroom. Hence they do not believe 
that a man can be a Christian out of the church. 

6. That the Holy Spirit operates through the 
word of truth, and not independent of it, is a pe- 
culiar tenet of the Disciples. There is no other religious 
body that believes it ; but it is clearly Biblical teaching 
on the subject. 

7. The Disciples do not consider baptism a mode, 
but a specific act. The question of baptism is not, 
therefore, with them one of opinion, but of translation. 
The word translated settles the matter ; for no transla- 
tor of authority has ever rendered the word baptizo 
either to sprinkle or to pour. Rantizo is the word for 
sprinkle, and cheo for pour ; so baptizo is always so 
translated as to harmonize with the word to dip or im- 
merse. 



Part II.— THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 



CHRISTIANITY THE HIGHEST SCIENCE. 

[Delivered at the First Christian Church, Paducah, Ky., Oct. 9, 1887, and 
stenographically reported by Jos. J. Losier.] 

"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding 
profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called : 
which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with 
thee. Amen" (I. Tim. vi. 20, 21). 

The genus babbler comprises two species — the vain 
and the profane. The vain is not as wicked as the 
profane, but the vain is extremely bigoted. 

The false science referred to by Paul was certain 
genealogies and speculations — questions not worth the 
name of science. There can not be a false without a 
genuine. The existence of a false science implies a 
true science. The fact that Paul warned Timothy 
against false science, implies that he was to cultivate 
the true. The word "science" is derived from the 
Latin word scientia, which means knowledge ; but all 
knowledge is not science. According to Prof. Huxley, 
science is "the highest and most exact knowledge 
upon any subject." Christianity gives us the highest 
and most exact knowledge upon those subjects in 
which mankind have always been most interested. 
That being true, it must be the highest of the sciences. 



»73 



174 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

I do not sympathize with those ministers who seem to 
class all science with infidelity. Science is knowledge, 
and true knowledge harmonizes in the great universe of 
God. There have been false systems of science, just 
as there have been false systems of religion. In the 
days of the French Revolution, there were nearly one 
hundred geological theories supposed to conflict with 
the Bible. All have been proven to be false ; yet the 
Bible stands upon a rock as firm as adamant. 

In the days of Galileo and Copernicus, religious 
teachers had a number of theories, and they thought 
that the discoveries of these scientists conflicted with 
their theories — their interpretation of the Bible was not 
correct. When the Bible was understood, science and 
the Bible were found to harmonize on the disputed 
questions. 

Some object to the Scriptures upon the ground that 
they recognize the supernatural. They have certainly 
not weighed well the term "supernatural." If they 
define things natural, as effects brought about by the 
laws of nature, simply to mean material phenomena, 
then man may be called a supernatural being, for he is 
not in that same circle of cause and effect. Man can 
move and change. So far as material things are con- 
cerned, you may say that man changes the law of na- 
ture. [Drops a book upon the table.] The law of 
attraction draws that book down to this table ; but I 
have a will-power, and I exert it to lift it up, in spite 
of the law of gravitation. My will-power is exerted 
on nature, it is exerted upon some material thing, and it 
is lifted up, even against the law of gravitation. Man 
exercising his will towards material phenomena is a 
good illustration of God exercising his will over such 






CHRISTIANITY THE HIGHEST SCIENCE, 1 75 

phenomena. In the exercise of God's will, you see 
the supernatural. 

Christianity is the purest theism. The Bible nowhere 
proves the existence of God. It simply refers to the 
fact, and leaves all nature to demonstrate its truth. 
Paul says, ' ' For the invisible things of him from the 
creation of the world are clearly seen, being under- 
stood by the things that are made, even his eternal 
power and Godhead ; so that they are without excuse." 
The first argument in favor of the divine existence we 
may call cosmological. That is argument from effect 
back to cause. We look upon this material universe ; 
we see there must be a cause for its existence. Inertia 
is a universal property of matter. Matter can not move 
itself. It could not have caused itself, much less caused 
the phenomena of mind. Thomas Payne claimed that 
he could never be an atheist and account for motion, 
from the fact that inertia is a universal property of 
matter. We have effects in this universe that certainly 
require an intelligent cause to account for them ; for 
example, man, the thinking being. You can not ac- 
count for thought without admitting the existence of 
an antecedent thinker. Voltaire was invited by the 
French atheists to become a member of their body. 
Said he, ' ' The trouble is, who made this universe ? 
I can not account for the existence of the watch with- 
out admitting the existence of the cause that produced 
it." It is impossible to understand the effect without 
admitting the first great cause. But some one asks, 
"Who created God?" If you be thoughtful, when 
you go back to the divine existence, the mind is satis- 
fied that God is sufficient to create the phenomena of 
this universe — that God is the eternal cause. I have 



I76 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

no difficulty in proving this. There can not be a de- 
pendent being without an independent one. Man is a 
dependent being; therefore, the God that made him is 
an independent being. So that will settle the question 
as to who made God. 

The second argument in favor of the existence of 
God, I might call the teleological proof. In this we 
study the law of adaptation. For example, take the 
human eye. The mechanism of the human eye cer- 
tainly implies that the creator of the human eye had 
an idea of the eye before the eye was produced. 
There must be an idea, then, before the production of 
the eye, that would be a sufficient cause for the ex- 
istence of the eye. It is not surprising, then, that 
Sir Isaac Newton claimed that the eye is a cure for 
atheism. Suppose you study the statue of Moses, by 
Michael Angelo, the most sublime statue that the 
world has ever produced. The greatest sculptors in 
the world have gone to study the statue of Moses. 
But in looking upon this sublime work of art, do you 
not see evidence in its sublimity o{ an antecedent sub- 
limity and plan in the mind of the artist ? And does 
not this statue imply just such thought and plan as 
Michael Angelo certainly originated before producing 
that wonderful work of art ? Just so when we look 
upon the law of adaptation in the great universe. This 
argument that I have presented convinced Socrates, 
Plato,, Sir Isaac Newton, John Locke, Paley, and other 
#minent philosophers, of the existence of the true and 
the living God. 

The third argument in favor of the existence of the 
true God is the ontological. We mean by this that 
man has the idea of God in the mind. All nations 



CHRISTIANITY THE HIGHEST SCIENCE. I'JJ 

have believed in a Supreme being. The poor Indian, 
" whose untutored mind sees God in clouds, and 
hears him in the wind," is an example of this. It is 
perfectly safe to say that the idea of God — the belief 
in the Divine existence — has been almost universal. It 
is useless for persons to claim that there are a few who 
will not accept the universal testimony of mankind. 
You may find such eccentricities in art and in music, 
but that would not prove that there is not an element 
in man's nature that causes him to produce art or music. 
The different nations and peoples have an idea of the 
Supreme Being, ' 4 the Father of all. In every age and 
in every clime, adored by saint, by savage, and by 
sage, Jehovah, Jove, or Lord." The ontological proof 
convinced the celebrated Leibnitz, and also the great 
French philosopher Cousin, and other eminent men as 
well. 

I think; therefore, I am. My existence is implied 
in the fact of my thinking. I have the knowledge of 
superior existence. The effect I have. The thought 
of the existence of God I have. There must be a Su- 
preme Being who has given that thought to the world. 

These are certainly strong evidences — sufficient to 
convince any person of reason. But I will give an- 
other reason which, for want of a better name, I will 
call the natural reason. What do I mean by the natu- 
ral reason ? This : that man believes in God, because 
he was created to believe in God. Man has what are 
called "veneration" and "conscience." The exist- 
ence of veneration and conscience points to the Supreme 
existence. I do not claim that the belief in God is 
strictly intuitive, but I claim that it is by intuition that 
we have a knowledge of time and space. Sir Isaac 



178 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

Newton claims that space and time are attributes of 
God. Then God exists, because space and time of 
necessity exist. Now, this natural evidence we can 
not reject. No one can doubt that man will worship — 
worship something. Man just as certainly believes in 
God as there is an element of music in his nature, and 
that he possesses an organ to correspond to it — as cer- 
tainly as he has an artistic element in him. It is just 
as natural for a man to worship as it is for him to eat. 

So we can place religion upon a scientific basis. It 
is natural, then, for us to worship God ; and those that 
do not worship Him, go contrary to the highest ele- 
ments in their nature. 

Christianity, in the second division of the subject, 
is the highest psychology. Now, there are some per- 
sons that deny altogether the existence of spirit. You 
can find persons that will deny 'most anything — their 
own existence. Persons have been found who deny 
the existence of material phenomena. They deny the 
existence of the outward world. The Idealists have 
denied the existence of outward works ; and it is just 
as easy to prove the existence of mind as it is that of 
matter. Some one says, "How?" It is asked, "How 
prove the existence of matter?" You know that 
matter exists, from the fact that you are conscious of 
the perception of the external world. We know of 
the existence of mind, because we are conscious of the 
ability to think, and to feel, and to act. The phenom- 
ena of spirit are just as real as those of matter. You 
speak of properties of matter, and use adjectives to 
describe them. "We think" and "we feel" are 
verbs denoting the phenomena of spirit. Christianity 
presents to us the truest and highest psychology. 



CHRISTIANITY THE HIGHEST SCIENCE. 1 79 

Paul, in Thess. v. 23, defines man as body, soul and 
spirit. The word "soul " is in Greek psuche, and has 
reference to the intellectual part of man. The word 
"spirit" is from the Greek pneuma, and has reference 
to man's immortal and religious being. The word 
"soul" and the word "spirit" are sometimes used 
interchangeably. The word "soul" sometimes refers 
to the whole man — where, for example, the Bible 
speaks of "eight souls " having been saved by water; 
of so many souls going down into Egypt. Then the 
word "soul" frequently comprehends " spirit," as, for 
example, "For what is a man profited if he gain the 
whole world and lose his own soul?" or " What shall a 
man give in exchange for his soul ?" "I saw under the 
altar the souls of them that were slain." But the 
Saviour upon the cross — the very last words he used 
were, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." 
Jesus here used the word spirit, and not the word soul. 
The dying Stephen said, ' ' Lord Jesus, receive my 
spirit." In II. Cor. xii. 2, Paul says: " I knew a man 
in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the 
body, I can not tell ; or whether out of the body, I can 
not tell : God knoweth ;) such an one caught up to the 
third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in 
the body, or out of he body, I can not tell: God 
knoweth ;) How that he was caught up into paradise, 
and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for 
a man to utter." This teaches us that a man may be 
caught up in the body, or out of the body ; for he says, 
" I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of 
the body, I can not tell). The man may be caught up 
out of the body. Paul makes the spirit more than he 
does the body, for he says, * ' Though the outward man 



l80 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

perish the inward man is renewed day by day." The 
teachings of Paul upon this subject are in harmony 
with the teachings of Socrates and the philosophers 
among the Greeks, centuries before the introduction of 
Christianity. When one of the servants of Socrates 
expressed a wish to bury him after his death, he said, 
" You can bury me, if you can catch me." He wanted 
to impress upon the mind of the servant that the body 
was not Socrates — the spirit was Socrates, and not the~ 
body. Those of you that have visited the Niagara 
Falls, remember how you could look up and see the 
beautiful rainbow — the spray-bow. What is the cause 
of this rainbow? Some one says, water. You are mis- 
taken about that. The water is the occasion, the sun 
the cause ; for if the water were the cause, the bow 
would pass down with the waters of Niagara. So, 
when we speak of the identity of man, it is not in the 
body. The body is constantly changing. The mate- 
rial body passes off every seven years. The heart of a 
man will change in thirty days, and the heart of a wo- 
man in less time than thirty days. These material par- 
ticles are constantly passing away, yet the identity is- 
not changed. The identity is not in the body, but in 
the spirit. So Christianity presents to us the highest 
psychology. 

In the third place, the third grand division of the 
subject, Christianity is the most perfect system of 
ethics. The Ten Commandments, recorded in the 
twentieth chapter of Exodus, contain the highest ethi- 
cal system of antiquity. No other nation had a system 
at all comparable with the Mosaic law. It is not sur- 
prising that a great modern lawyer said, "Where did 
Moses get that law?" The first table of the law refers- 



CHRISTIANITY THE HIGHEST SCIENCE l8l 

to man's duties to God ; the second table refers to 
man's duties to his fellow man. Jesus comprehends 
the entire law in one sentence : ' ' Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. 
On these two commandments hang all the law and the 
prophets." Auguste Comte, the founder of modern 
Positivism, claims that the theological age was super- 
seded by the philosophical, and the philosophical by 
the scientific; and that theology and philosophy will 
pass away. He is certainly mistaken in the position 
taken. The Greeks, the Romans, the Chaldeans, the 
Hindoos, the great nations of antiquity had science, 
philosophy and religion — especially was this true of 
the Greeks and Romans. So the position of this mod- 
ern philosopher can not be correct. He thought that 
the system of ethics laid down in the New Testament 
would be superseded by a higher system. But turn to 
the Sermon on the Mount ; can you find anything at 
all to be compared with the ethical precepts of the great 
teacher of men? Take, for example, the beatitudes of 
Jesus. You can form no conception of a more perfect 
character than that comprehended in the beatitudes. 

More than eighteen hundred years have demon- 
strated the correctness of the ethical teaching of Jesus. 
Suppose you compare the moral teachings of our Sav- 
iour with that which is called utilitarian. And what a 
wonderful contrast we have ! The utilitarian school 
has never produced a man of the moral courage of the 
apostle Paul. Upon the hypothesis of utilitarianism, 
how can the career of the apostle Paul ever be accounted 
for? It must be admitted that Paul was the greatest 
moral force of modern times. Why is this? He 



l82 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

claims his power because he was an apostle of Jesus of 
Nazareth. Compare Martin Luther, the great German 
reformer: where do you find among the utilitarians a 
man to compare with him ? You can not do it. Util- 
itarianism will not produce such men as Christianity- 
has given the world. Then the ethics of Christianity 
must be far superior to the ethics of utilitarianism. 
When Christianity was introduced into the world a 
great spiritual and moral force was awakened. Look 
at that cold, icy mountain. The heat of the sun melts 
the snow upon it, and, behold, a beautiful, babbling 
brook at its base. So like it was the introduction of 
Christianity into the Greek and Roman world. Just as 
the sun of springtime closes out the cold and ice 
in winter, so the moral and spiritual forces of our 
Christianity shut out the cold and icy heart of heathen- 
ism. Compare the centuries before the introduction of 
Christianity with the present century, and see the influ- 
ence upon mankind, and see the great spiritual power 
of what we call Christianity ! 

We may safely conclude that Christianity presents 
the highest ethical system ever presented to the world, 
and the highest of which man can form a conception. 
When man comes up to this high ethical system we 
shall have the human race perfected ; then you will have 
universal peace — the millennium introduced. 

We may safely conclude that Christianity is the 
highest of the sciences. It is the purest theism, the high- 
est psychology, and the most perfect system of ethics. 

May knowledge more and more increase, 
And man from bondage find release, 
As the Bible he studies, and Nature's laws, 
Which point to the same eternal cause ! 



CHRISTIANITY THE TRUEST PHILOSOPHY. 

[A sermon delivered by J. W. Lowber, at the First Christian Church, Padu- 
cah, Ky., Oct. 23, 1887, and stenographically reported by Jos. J. Losier.] 

" Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, 
after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after 
Christ" (Col. ii. 8). 

The word " philosophy " is derived from the Greek 
language. It means a love for wisdom. Speculators 
among the early Greeks called themselves Sophists 
until the coming of the great Pythagoras, and he 
thought it was more modest to term himself a lover of 
wisdom than a wise man. In reading the book of 
Proverbs, you find the word wisdom very frequently 
used. In reading that book and studying the philoso- 
phy of Athens, I am convinced that the Athenian 
theories were derived a great deal more from the Orient 
than many critics are disposed to admit. There have 
always been extreme tendencies in philosophy. These 
tendencies existed among the Greeks previous to the 
great Socrates. These tendencies are very properly 
represented by the theories of Nescience and Omni- 
science, in the days of Paul — one by Epicureanism, 
and the other by Stoicism. 

The schools of modern Atheism and Pantheism are 
the positive philosophy, or the theory of Nescience ; 
and the absolute philosophy, or the theory of Omni- 
science. The same tendencies that we find in modern 

183 



I84 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

philosophy existed among the early philosophers at 
Athens. 

There was one class among the Greeks that went 
into Materialism ; there was another class that went into 
Pantheism. Socrates harmonized the extreme tenden- 
cies. He was a true philosopher. In Athens, Socrates, 
Plato and Aristotle kept the golden mean between the 
extremes that have always agitated the philosophic 
world. I believe that they were true philosophers, 
and did much to prepare the world for the introduction 
of Christianity. 

Plato purified the theistic idea, and prepared the 
human mind for the reception of Christianity, the tru- 
est theism that has ever existed. Aristotle gave the 
outlines of all knowledge — in other words, he has given 
the outlines of the various systems of thought. When 
Paul stood upon Mars' hill to discuss ethical questions 
with the philosophers of Athens, the Epicureans were 
Materialists, Atheists, and Agnostics. They occupied 
the same position that Materialism occupies at the pres- 
ent time. They used the same arguments in defense 
of their Materialism that modern Materialists use in 
defense of their systems. 

In 1868, Prof. Huxley discovered, at the bottom of 
the sea, a jelly-like substance called protoplasm. He 
gave it the scientific name of bathybius, a Greek word 
meaning deep sea. 

In 1873, Strauss wrote "The Old Faith and the 
New," and in that book he took the position that the 
protoplasm discovered by Prof. Huxley would be the 
means of bridging the chasm between the organic 
and the inorganic world. Strauss said if bathybius 
docs not bridge the chasm, we must admit that a mira- 



CHRISTIANITY THE TRUEST PHILOSOPHY. 1 85 

cle has been wrought. In 1875, the ship Challenger, 
engaged in deep sea soundings, discovered that this 
bathybius was nothing but the sulphate of lime, and 
when it dissolves it crystallizes as gypsum. According 
to the admission of Strauss, as bathybius has failed to 
bridge the chasm, modern Materialism has to admit the 
existence of the supernatural. Prof. Huxley himself 
has admitted that his position in reference to the pro- 
toplasm is not correct. 

Profs. Tyndall and Bain try to make matter a 
double-faced unity, having on one side the material and 
on the other side the spiritual. In this they contradict 
the established definitions of science. According to 
the established definitions of science, inertia is a uni- 
versal property of matter. This being true, it would 
be the most consummate folly to speak of matter as 
having a spiritual side. Materialism fails to account 
for the origination of matter. Kant, the great German 
philosopher, once said, "Give me matter, and I can 
form a universe ; but give me matter only, and I can 
not form a caterpillar." 

In the second place, Materialism contradicts the 
facts of consciousness. Man is conscious that in his 
own being there is something above the material. 

In the third place, Materialism entirely fails to ac- 
count for the spiritual. There is just as much evidence 
of the existence of the spiritual as there is evidence of 
the existence of the material. 

Epicureanism, in the second place, was Atheism ; it 
denied the existence of the Supreme Being. You will 
observe that the word " Atheism " is from the Greek, 
meaning "no god." Atheism is a daring negation. 
Atheism must lay claims to universal knowledge. It 



1 86 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

must invade all space, in order to prove itself true. It 
would have to travel throughout the universe, and 
would have to be omnipotent in itself, in order to as- 
certain that there is no God. How can it know that 
there is no God ? Has the Atheist visited all parts of 
the dominion of the Supreme Being, in order to be en- 
abled to take such a position ? 

In the next place, some persons are disposed to be- 
lieve that there should be no God. Man frequently 
believes what he desires to believe. The Psalmist rep- 
resents that idea correctly when he says, ' ' The fool hath 
said in his heart, There is no God." He has said more 
in his heart that " There is no God," than in his intel- 
lect. 

In the third place, you will find men who claim to 
believe in God, but their lives are atheistic. In their 
words, there are a great many who believe in God — 
perhaps think they do believe in God — but act very 
much as though they thought God was dead. 

Epicureanism was also Agnosticism. Modern Ag- 
nosticism can.be included in it. What do we mean by 
that term ? The Agnostic claims that if there is a 
God, we can never know anything about it. The 
Agnostic stands where the Athenians did in the days 
of Paul — they say that God is unknowable. It is the 
duty of the Christian Theists, as it was the duty of 
Paul, to make known to these Agnostics the true and 
the living God. 

Sir William Hamilton, in opposition to German 
rationalism, advocated his theory on Nescience. Man- 
sel, his disciple, took the same position. Herbert 
Spencer, John Stuart Mill, and others, have pushed 
the position taken by the great Scotch philosopher into 



CHRISTIANITY THE TRUEST PHILOSOPHY. 1 87 

Agnosticism. But is this position correct? Can we 
not know something of God ? They did not discrimi- 
nate between knowledge and understanding. For ex- 
ample, a child knows his father, but may not fully com- 
prehend his father. There are a great many things which 
we may know, but which we do not understand. I 
stand upon the sea beach. I look upon the great 
ocean. I am enabled to know of the existence of 
that ocean, but I do not fully comprehend it. We cer- 
tainly can know something of God. 

When I was a little boy, no more than five years of 
age, I remember being under a peach tree. There 
were many apple trees there in the same orchard. I 
began to reflect in his way : ' ' Who made this peach 
tree ? Who made these apple trees, and arranged 
these limbs in such perfect order ? Who has placed 
the fruit just at the proper place, and fixed the time of 
ripening?" We have in this perfect order. I remem- 
ber well, though I was but a child, that I thought some 
Being more intelligent than any I then knew anything 
about, had made these arrangements. Even then I 
knew something of a Supreme Being. And this is be- 
yond modern Agnosticism. 

You go into the corn field. Study carefully the 
corn till it ripens ; then husk it. You take the ear of 
corn, and notice with care the arrangement of corn 
upon the cob. Count the rows. You will find that 
there may be ten rows, or twelve rows, or sixteen rows, 
or eighteen rows, or twenty, twenty-two, or even 
twenty-four rows ; but you will never find any but the 
even numbers when you count the rows. The God 
that made this arrangement is certainly a God that can 
count. He is something more than the Agnostic idea 



1 88 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

of God, or the Atheistic idea of God ; for mere change 
can not count: but God, who made these things, is 
able to count. In this study of corn you will always 
have an evidence beyond dispute that the great Creator 
is an intelligent Being. 

Stoicism represents modern Pantheism, Transcend- 
entalism and Rationalism. As Materialism became 
the leading philosophy in France during the eighteenth 
century, Pantheism at the same time became the lead- 
ing philosophy in Germany. The Stoics were intellect- 
ual men. Some of them were believers in the Supreme 
Being ; some of them were great heroes in their day. 
Yet they were Pantheists. The great Pantheistic 
teacher in Germany was Schelling. His disciple was 
the celebrated Goethe. Schiller was a disciple of 
Kant ; and Schiller was always more favorable to Chris- 
tianity than was the great Goethe. 

It does appear to me that Pantheism is very unreason- 
able, for some of the men who claim to be the intellectual 
giants of the world to advocate. Think of it ! Think 
how self-consciousness can assure a man of his own 
personality ! When you study carefully your own per- 
sonality, you can not otherwise than believe in the per- 
sonality of God. Man is conscious of his own person- 
ality. You know that Patheism makes God the uni- 
verse ; and the universe, God. According to the 
Pantheists, the great universe is a beautiful temple with- 
out any God in it. We are not only conscious of our 
own personality, but also of the freedom of our will, 
and the ability to act upon material phenomena ; and 
the ability to change material phenomena. If such be the 
case with man, God, then, must also have freedom of 
will and have ability to change material phenomena. 



CHRISTIANITY THE TRUEST PHILOSOPHY. 1 89 

That being true, God certainly can not be a unit with 
the universe. His personality is separate from the 
great system of Nature that he has created. 

I am fully satisfied that these extreme tendencies 
which I have mentioned have in them a great deal of 
truth. When the truths belonging to these systems are 
brought together, then you have a true philosophy. 

I have stated that Socrates, Plato and Aristotle oc- 
cupied the golden mean, and thus gave us a true philos- 
ophy. I will say that in modern times John Locke, 
Sir Wm. Hamilton, Kant, Descartes, and McCosh have 
occupied the golden mean, and thus harmonized those 
extremes that have been so productive of infidelity. 
It is claimed by Materialists that John Locke was the 
founder of modern Materialism; but he did not claim 
that all knowledge comes through the senses. He 
claimed that it came through sensation and reflection. 
He includes in his system also reflection ; but Condil- 
lac, the Frenchman, made sensation include the reflec- 
tion of Locke, and thus pushed it into Materialism. 

It is so in reference to the absolute Philosophy. 
Fichte and Hegel did not break with Christianity. It 
was the left wing of the Hegelian philosophy repre- 
sented by Strauss, Renan, and Theodore Parker that 
parted with Christianity. Theodore Parker claims that 
man has an instinctive intuition of a Supreme Being, 
and also that he has an instinctive intuition of a future 
state. He denounced the Bible as the Christian's idol. 

Last year I had the pleasure of hearing learned 
Unitarian ministers of the East. I heard Drs. Hill and 
Peabody, of Harvard fame ; also Dr. Livermore, who 
is likewise at the head of a Unitarian college. These men 
are firm believers in the inspiration of the Bible. 



190 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

A true philosophy will become the mediator be- 
tween science and religion. You take a man who gives 
all his attention to a particular science — say the science 
of physiology ; he studies the body so much, and pays 
no attention to psychology, that he concludes that the 
body is all that is in man, and denies the existence of 
the spirit. As a matter of course, he is not capable of 
writing upon the relation of the sciences to religion. 
You take a man that pays no attention to scientific pur- 
suits — he may be even a Luther or a Calvin — and he 
knows not the relation of science to the Bible. These men 
claimed that the sun revolved around the earth, and 
they denied the Copernican Theory of Astronomy. But 
Copernicus and Galileo both believed as firmly in the 
Bible, and as firmly believed in the doctrine that God 
has created all things, as did Calvin and Luther. This 
final philosophy, that I may call the true philosophy, 
is exactly the philosophy that Paul preached at Athens, 
on Mars' Hill. In Acts xvii. , in that memorable dis- 
course, Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus, and 
said, "Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things 
ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld 
your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, 
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom ye therefore ig- 
norantly worship, him declare I unto you." They con- 
fessed themselves to be Agnostics, but had an altar 
erected to the unknown God. Paul then, as a Christian 
Theist ought to do, made known unto them the true and 
living God. He is the God that made the world, and all 
things therein. That condemns modern Materialists, 
for they claim there is no God ; that the world of mat. 
ter is not eternal ; that it came into existence by a 
gradual process, and that it needed no higher power than 



CHRISTIANITY THE TRUEST PHILOSOPHY. 1 9 1 

simply material phenomena. God made the tilings 
therein ; he created man. This philosophy differs from 
that philosophy very greatly. That was not above the 
philosophy of Topsy, which simply claims that man 
just grows up, and is not able to say how he grows. 
Paul declared that the God he preached was the God of 
the heavens and the earth. If he is the Creator of the 
heavens and the earth, then he is above the heavens 
and the earth, which he created. This condemns the 
Pantheism of the Stoics. 

True philosophy also teaches us that there is only 
one humanity. So Paul says, ' ' He hath made of one 
blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of 
the earth." This teaches us, then, the universal 
brotherhood of man. And if his doctrine is properly 
recognized, the true God and the universal brotherhood 
of man, that will be found to be the true philosophy. 
It will soon solve some of the most difficult problems 
in sociology, and will do much to settle the conflict be- 
tween capital and labor. 

The providence that God exercises over the nations 
is shown in the fact that he li hath determined the times 
before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation ; 
that they shall seek the Lord," then he is not far away 
from us, "for in him we live, and move, and have our 
being." 

Kant, the great German philosopher, says that a 
man feels a dependence upon a higher Being. Man 
feels condemned when he does not live right, so that 
his conduct may be well pleasing in the sight of this 
higher Being. That is what Paul teaches when he says, 
4t God has appointed a day in which to judge the world 



I92 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

in righteousness." He has given assurance to all men, 
in that he has raised up Christ from the dead. 

A true system of philosophy must recognize the 
supernatural. There is no historical fact more fully 
established than the fact of the raising up of Jesus 
Christ from the dead. The last great fact of the gos- 
pel is the grandest supernatural act of which we have 
any knowledge. 



CHRISTIANITY THE PUREST RELIGION. 



[Delivered at the opening of the Forty-second Annual Session of the Penn- 
sylvania Christian Conference.] 



" Pure religion and undented before God and the Father is this, To 
visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself un- 
spotted from the world " (Jas. i. 27). 

The word religion is derived from the Latin re and 
ligo y which means to rebind. The object of .religion is 
to save man from sin, and to rebind him to his Maker 
and to his God. 

There were eight religions previous to the Chris- 
tian, which controlled the human mind and heart. 
These were the Chinese, Brahmanism, Buddhism, the 
religion of Persia, the Egyptian religion, the Greek, 
the Roman, and the Jewish. All of these religions 
contained some truth, but they were ethnic religions, 
adapted each to the nation of its adoption. Christi- 
anity came not to destroy the truth contained in any 
of them, but to fulfill. 

Many regard the inhabitants of the Celestial empire 
as entirely ignorant of those things which characterize 
civilized nations ; but there are some things which we 
call great inventions that were known in China more 
than two thousand years ago. The canal is considered 
one of the great inventions of modern times ; but ca- 
nals intersected all parts of China long anterior to the 
time any were known in Europe. One of the most 

*93 



194 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

important mechanical inventions of modern times is the 
Artesian well. The deepest in the world is at St. 
Louis, Missouri, which reaches the depth of four thous- 
and feet. But such wells were sunk to a great depth, 
at a very great antiquity, in China. The great relig- 
ious teacher of China for more than two thousand 
years, has been Confucius. A people should not be 
called barbarians who have produced so great a teacher 
as was this sage. He taught some things which it 
would be well for us to observe in this age. "To rule 
with equity," says he, "is like the North star, which 
is fixed, and all the rest go round it." This is a rule 
that it would be well for many of the rulers in the 
United States to learn. Confucius had some idea of 
the existence of the Supreme Being, for he says: 
"Worship as though the Deity were present." "If 
my mind is not engaged in my worship, it is as though 
I worshiped not." Confucius, doubtless, had some 
conception of the coming of the Messiah, for one of 
the most authentic of his sayings is this: " In the West 
the true saint must be looked for and found." If, ac- 
cording to the Christian fathers, the Greek sages were 
school-masters to lead men to Christ, I can not see why 
we should not, also, regard Confucius as a school-mas- 
ter to point his millions of pupils to the true Western 
Saint. 

Brahmanism is more exclusive and less pure in its 
worship than the Chinese religion. A young Persian 
was once introduced to a Brahman as belonging to his 
tribe. The young man was instructed in all the relig- 
ious symbols of the Hindoo faith. He was married to 
a daughter of the Brahman. When it was discovered 
that he was a Persian, the father-in-law took a dagger 



CHRISTIANITY THE PUREST RELIGION. I Q$ 

and was only dissuaded from plunging it to his heart 
by the son-in-law's taking a solemn oath that he would 
never reveal any of the secret rites of the Hindoo re- 
ligion. This teaches us how national and sectarian was 
the religion of India. Notwithstanding their bigotry, 
the Hindoo worshipers held to some truth, for they 
recognized the reality of the spiritual. Christianity 
accepted all that was true in this system of worship — 
i. e. y it proved all things, and held fast to the good. 

Of all the religions of ancient times, there v/as none 
which so much sympathized with the Jewish religion as 
the religion of Persia. This religion was essentially 
monotheism. True, it recognized the author of all 
evil, and in some sense he may have been regarded as 
a god ; but the Persians held to the final triumph of 
Ormazd over all evil. The Persian religion was a re- 
volt from the Pantheism of India ; and was based upon 
the eternal distinction between right and wrong. Like 
the religion of China, the Persian religion can be traced 
to a founder. Honover, or Horn, was the first relig- 
ious teacher among the Persians, and the founder of 
the Magi ; but all religious thought among the Persians 
really centers in Zoroaster, one of the Magi, who lived 
about thirteen hundred years before Christ. All mor- 
ality, according to Zoroaster, has its root in the eternal 
distinction between the right and wrong motive ; there- 
fore, in God. After the Jews came in contact with the 
religion of Zoroaster, they never went into polytheism. 
It was Cyrus the Great, a Persian emperor, who re- 
stored them to their native land after a captivity of 
seventy years. 

It is thought by many that we have derived the 
doctrine of a future life, and a resurrection from the 



I96 THE AFOsTOLIC FULPIT. 

dead for ultimate judgment, from Zoroaster through 
the Jews. If this be true, it does not condemn the 
doctrine, for Zoroaster held to a great deal of truth. 
He, like Confucius, recognized one greater than him- 
self, who should come after him ; for when Jesus was 
born in Bethlehem of Judea, his disciples were guided 
by a star to Bethlehem, where they found the true 
"light of the world," for which they had long been 
searching. The Persian religion, though national, 
comes in here as another witness to the truth of Chris- 
tianity, the universal religion, which was to follow it. 

In the days of the apostles there were two species 
of civilization which specially attracted the attention of 
the world. One was the result of philosophy, and the 
other of divine revelation. The city of Athens was 
the center of one, and the city of Jerusalem was the 
center of the other. One of the greatest events in the 
history of the world was the preaching of the apostle 
Paul in the city of Athens. He offered a Semitic re- 
ligion to an Aryan race, and monotheism to the most 
elaborate polytheism of the world. He stood on the 
Areopagus, called Mars' Hill, because Mars was sup- 
posed to have been tried there. He stood where he 
could see the grandest work of art, and where Socrates 
had stood four hundred years previous, and defended 
himself against the charge of Atheism. It was where 
Demosthenes had plead in immortal strains for the last 
remains of Hellenic freedom. 

Paul presented the gospel to the Athenians in a 
very becoming manner. He did not insult them by 
calling them superstitious, as it is rendered in the com- 
mon version ; but praised them for their religious zeal. 
11 1 perceive that in all things you are very religious." 



CHRISTIANITY THE PUREST RELIGION. 1 97 

The Athenians had worshiped all the gods known to them, 
and during a famine, according to Pausanias, they let 
go a number of black and white sheep, and where one 
lay down, there they erected an altar to an unknown god. 
According to their law, the man who introduced a new 
god was condemned to death. Paul informed them 
that he had passed one of these altars, and desired to 
make known to them the God whom they had already 
worshiped without knowing him. To this the Athen- 
ians could not object. After Paul had presented to 
them the character of the unknown God, he argued the 
universal brotherhood of mankind. He was then pre- 
pared to present the Christian religion, which is adapted 
to all mankind, and destined to become the religion of 
all races. 

The Roman religion was derived from the Greeks, 
t>ut was made more practical than the religion of 
Greece. The central thought in the religion of Rome 
was law. Christianity is a religion of love, and infused 
into Roman thought a life which it had never known 
before. 

The Jewish religion was as national and sectarian as 
those which we have already been considering. Its 
special object was to preserve the worship of the one 
true God until he should come who was "God mani- 
fested in the flesh." Judaism was never capable of be- 
coming the religion of all races. It accomplished its 
work. Christianity did not destroy the law or the 
prophets, but it fulfilled them, as it did the truth of all 
religions. There are many preachers at the present 
time, claiming to be evangelical, who are preaching 
Judaism instead of Christianity. They do not tell the 



I98 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

sinner what Christ and his apostles told him to do to 
be saved, but refer him to Moses and the prophets. 

At the first introduction of Christianity in the city 
of Jerusalem, where the Jews from all parts of the 
world had assembled to celebrate the feast of Pentecost, 
three thousand Jews renounced Judaism and became 
Christians. The gospel rapidly spread over Judea, and 
Samaria, and was soon preached to the nations dwelling 
in the uttermost parts of the earth. In a little more 
than three centuries after its introduction, Christianity 
became the religion of the Roman empire. At this 
time the ideas of Rome politic were transferred to Rome 
ecclesiastic, and the progress of the gospel was im- 
peded. During the Middle Ages the absurd theologi- 
cal speculations of the ancient heathen philosophers 
were preached in the stead of Christianity, and utter 
darkness brooded over the nations until the dawn of 
the Protestant Reformation. 

Protestantism has done much in bringing about a 
restoration of Primitive Christianity; but all of its ref- 
ormations have only been reformations in part. They 
have all retained many of the pagan ideas of the Ro- 
man church. 

There are two theories among Protestants as to how 
men become religious, that must now claim our atten- 
tion. The first maintains that religion is an external 
element, to be introduced into the nature of man, and 
until this is done, man is as dead as a stone. The sec- 
ond theory teaches that man is a religious being, and 
that Christianity is designed to develop this element of 
his nature. 

These theories are founded upon two views of hu- 
man nature, which are directly opposite. Accord- 



CHRISTIANITY THE PUREST RELIGION. 1 99 

ing to the first, man is totally depraved, and can not 
think a good thought, or perform a good act. This 
theory originated with the French philosophers in the 
days of the Revolution. They did not believe that man 
had fallen ; but that he was entirely corrupt at the begin- 
ning—that he was created simply for the present life, and 
was at death annihilated. 

John Calvin was a Frenchman, and incorporated 
this skeptical philosophy into his theology. He did 
not believe with the philosophers, that man was totally 
depraved at the beginning ; but that the Adamic trans- 
gression completed his corruption. 

All that is needed to refute this absurd philosophy 
is a careful study of the mental faculties. Accord- 
ing to mental philosophy these faculties have three di- 
visions, viz: the intellect, the sensibilities, and the 
will. In the intellect, v/e have perception, conception, 
and reflection. None of these are wrong in themselves, 
but perform evil only when corrupted. Reason is a 
God-given principle, which elevates man above the 
lower animals. Reason may be corrupted, and pro- 
duce false philosophy ; but it is not corrupt in itself. 
The will is necessary in order to repentance, for with- 
out a will, and a free will at that, man can make no 
progress in the divine life. The will may be perverted, 
and the man become stubborn ; but there is nothing 
wrong in an unperverted will. In the sensibilities the 
passions are included. The highest passion in man's 
nature is love, and it produces more evil than any 
other, when perverted. God is never called faith, nor 
is he ever called hope; but " God is love." There is, 
therefore, nothing wrong in the passions unperverted ; 
for the highest element in the nature of Jehovah is the 



200 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

emotion of love. When this perverted view of human 
nature is laid aside, the religious theory formed upon 
it must necessarily fall to the ground. 

The second view of human nature, that man is a 
religious being, is sustained by the history of all ages, 
and of all nations. According to Livingstone and 
other missionaries, the most ignorant tribes of South 
Africa worshiped what they call gods. The ignorant 
Icelander has his object of worship. Some have doubt- 
less gone too far in emphasizing the religious faculty in 
man. This extreme view has produced the various 
forms of Rationalism and Spiritualism. Although man 
is a religious being, he needs Christianity to develop 
this susceptibility of his nature. The religion of Jesus, 
the Christ, is exactly adapted to the nature of man. 

As the special failure of Protestantism has been in 
an effort to reform a corrupted church, instead of go- 
ing to Christ and his apostles, and there mining for the 
pure gold ; let us go there, and feel assured that our 
Great Leader has fully instructed us in everything per- 
taining to the kingdom of heaven. 

Christ is the central figure of the Bible and the 
founder of Christianity. The Bible contains a history 
of Judaism, as well as the system of faith promulgated 
by Christ and illustrated by his apostles. It is there- 
fore necessary for us to understand the adaptation of 
the Bible to man. I once heard of a man who read the 
fifth chapter of Genesis, which contains the genealogy 
of the patriarchs, to comfort his sick wife. Also of 
another who prayed for poor sinners, of whom he was 
the chief among ten thousand, and the one altogether 
lovely. Such men do not understand the proper appli- 
cation of Scripture. Nor do the preachers understand 



CHRISTIANITY THE PUREST RELIGION. 201 

the Bible much better who preach Judaism instead of 
Christianity, in order to make Christians. 

The last commandment God ever gave to man, was 
given in the presence of Moses, the great Lawgiver, 
and Elijah the greatest Prophet of the Hebrew Script- 
ures, when Jesus was transfigured before them, and a 
voice came from Heaven, saying: " This is my beloved 
Son, in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye him." Peter, 
James and John, who were the companions of Jesus on 
the occasion, were being prepared for the great work 
of their lives, which was to induce men to hear the 
mandates of the Son of God and obey his requirements. 

During the personal ministry of Christ upon earth, 
he forgave sins directly ; but when the time arrived for 
him to ascend to his Father's throne, it was necessary 
for him to commission men to preach forgiveness in his 
name. This he did when he gave the great commission 
to his twelve apostles. Every minister, who endeavors 
to preach the gospel of Christ, should study well this 
commission, for it embodies what Jesus thought neces- 
sary for the salvation of men. 

By a careful study of the commission of Christ to 
his twelve apostles and the Acts of the apostles, 
which is a history of apostolic preaching under this 
commission, we learn the following facts : 

1st. The apostles always recognized the supreme 
authority of Christ in their preaching. At Caesarea 
Philippi, the apostle Peter confessed Jesus to be the 
4C Christ, the Son of the Living God." It was upon 
Jesus, as the anointed Son of God, the church was 
built, and the gates of "hades" will never prevail 
against this divine foundation. 

2nd. The apostles were commissioned to preach the 



202 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

gospel to every creature. This teaches us that Chris- 
tianity is not a national and sectarian religion, like the 
religions which preceded it, but a religion designed for 
all races. 

3d. The apostles preached faith in Christ as the first 
step in becoming a Christian. "If thou believest with 
all thine heart, thou mayest " (Acts viii. 37). The 
apostles required faith in nothing else. Faith, with 
the whole heart, in the Christ, was sufficient. 

I have frequently stated that the Disciples of Christ, 
or Christians, place more stress upon the divinity of 
Christ than any other religious body. It is an easy task 
to prove this ; for other religious bodies make Christ 
an article of their creed, while the Christians make him 
the creed itself. The word creed is from the Latin 
credo, which means, I believe. The object of our faith 
is Jesus, the Christ, and no Christian has the right to 
any creed save the divine creed. 

My special objection to the various denominations 
of Christendom, is that they fail to present the Christ 
properly before the people. They discuss Trinitarian 
and Unitarian speculations, and neglect that which is 
all-important, viz : ' ' To preach Christ and him cruci- 
fied !" (I. Cor. ii. 2). 

4th. The apostles never required faith in any hu- 
man creed before baptism and church membership ; 
but faith with the whole heart in Christ, and godly sor- 
sow, which "worketh repentance to salvation!" (II. 
Cor. vii. 10). We have no right to require more of 
persons now than the inspired source of our religion 
required in the days of the apostles. When the 
eunuch confessed his faith in Christ, " they went down 
both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch : and he 



CHRISTIANITY THE PUREST RELIGION. 20$ 

baptized him. And when they were come up out of 
the water, the spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, 
that the eunuch saw him no more : and he went on his 
way rejoicing." 

How simple, and yet how emphatic are the divine 
requirements ! The man who has but little, or no 
knowledge of science and literature, may become a 
Christian as well as the most renowned sage. A good 
illustration of this is the case of the poor, illiterate 
African, who, in the days of slavery, when he had 
escaped from his master, would follow the direction of 
the North Star, until he was guided to a land of free- 
dom. He knew nothing about astronomy. It is said 
that two negroes were once arguing about the import- 
ance of the sun and moon. One argued that the sun 
was the more important ; but the other thought the 
moon was more valuable, because the sun shone dur- 
ing the day, when he was not needed, and the moon 
during the night, when her light was in demand. As 
the slave followed the North star, so the sinner must 
follow the Bright and Morning Star ; and he is certain 
to reach the land of pure delight, if he never knows 
anything about the speculations and philosophies of 
men. 

There are doubtless genuine Christians who do not 
know but that John Calvin was born in China, and 
Martin Luther on a bank of the river Ganges. I know a 
man who has been a Sunday-school teacher for more than 
twenty years, and not long since he contended with a 
brother that the apostle Paul was a Gentile. If his salva- 
tion depends upon his believing all his church teaches, 
I very much fear that he will be damned. What pro- 
fessed Christians now need is, to lay aside human creeds, 



204 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

and fully accept the divine creed, and consecrate their 
lives to the service of Christ; and there will be such a 
revival as has not been known since the days of the 
apostles. It was the entire neglect of enforcing human 
creeds upon the people, and a simple presentation of 
the Christ, that gave Moody and Sankey such great 
success in England. 

We have in the fourth chapter of Ephesians a 
beautiful representation of what the church was in the 
days of the apostles, and what it should be at the pres- 
ent time: "There is one body and one spirit," says the 
Apostle Paul, "even as ye are called in one hope of 
your calling ; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one 
God and Father of all, who is above all, and through 
all, and in you all." 

If all professors of Christianity will receive practi- 
cally this sublime and divine language, it will not be 
long until the unity of the Spirit is brought into bonds 
of peace. Then the prayer of Jesus, in the seventeenth 
chapter of John, will be answered, and the world be- 
lieve that God has sent his Son. It is refreshing to every 
true and earnest Christian, to contemplate that glorious 
millennial period when all nations shall be one in Christ. 
Christianity has in it the principles of universal unity; 
and not only will it unite the nations of earth, but it 
will also unite this fallen planet to the great universe of 
God. Then Jesus will reign victorious over the hea- 
vens and earth, most glorious. 



THE CHURCH AND CREED OF THE FIRST 

CENTURY. 



[Delivered before the South Kentucky Sunday-school and Missionary Con- 
vention]. 



" When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his 
disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am ? And 
they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist ; some, Elias ; and 
others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom 
say ye that I am ? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto 
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona : for flesh and blood hath not re- 
vealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto 
thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church ; and 
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the 
keys of the kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth 
shall be bound in heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall 
be loosed in heaven " (Matt. xvi. 13-19). 

The Church of Christ, the kingdom of God's dear 
Son, the kingdom of heaven, are not different expres- 
sions, conveying ideas of different institutions, but dif- 
ferent expressions conveying different ideas of precisely 
the same institution. When the kingdom of God was 
established, then the Church of Christ was builded, 
and vice versa. The two expressions are used inter- 
changeably in the language of the text. ' ' Upon this 
rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall 
not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys 
of the kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt 
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven : and what- 



206 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

soever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in 
heaven." 

When and where was the Church first EstablisJied ? 

When the kingdom of heaven was established, then 
was builded the Church of Christ. When, then, was 
the kingdom of heaven established ? 

1. According to an ancient custom, when a king 
went on a journey, a messenger was sent to prepare the 
way. When the Roman emperor went to visit differ- 
ent parts of his domains, he sent a messenger three 
months beforehand. When the Emperor of heaven 
came to this earth, he sent his messenger six months 
beforehand. "In those days came John the Baptist, 
preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Re- 
pent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand " (Matt. 
iii. I, 2). " At hand" does not mean something that 
has passed ; nor does it mean something in the dis- 
tant future, but something that is drawing nigh. The 
kingdom was not, then, established before the days of 
John the Baptist. Was it established in the days of 
the Baptist ? We think not ; because, after John had 
been cast into prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preach- 
ing precisely what John had preached (Matt. iv. 17). 

2. We will now take a passage of Scripture written 
before the kingdom was in existence ; another, after. 
In the first place, we will go forward ; in the second, 
backward, until we get at the exact time and place 
when and where the kingdom was established. 

In Mark xv. 43, we have the statement: "Joseph, 
of Arimathaea, an honorable counsellor, who also 
waited for the kingdom of God." As this was after 
the death of Christ, it teaches us that the kingdom was 



CHURCH AND CREED OF THE FIRST CENTURY. 20/ 

not established during the lifetime of Jesus. When 
Jesus, after the resurrection, was assembled with his 
disciples, they asked him to restore the kingdom to 
Israel (Acts i. 6). This teaches us, (i) That they did 
not understand the nature of the kingdom ; (2) That 
the kingdom was not set up ; for if it had been, they 
would have understood its nature. 

In Col. i. 13, the apostle states that the Colossians 
had been translated into the kingdom of God's dear 
Son. Here e;'c is contrasted with ix, in which case 
it always means into. No thoughtful person can doubt 
that the kingdom of God at that time had an existence. 

The Apostle Peter, in making his defense before his 
Jewish brethren, for preaching to the Gentiles, says : 
' ' The Holy Spirit fell on them, as on us, at the begin- 
ning " (Acts xi. 15). 

At what beginning was this ? The only answer is, 
the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell on 
Peter and the rest of the apostles. This is all in har- 
mony with Dan. ii., which teaches that the kingdom 
of heaven was to be established in the days of the 
fourth universal empire, and be itself the fifth. It was 
established in the days of the Caesars. 

In Matt. xvi. 18, Jesus says, "I will build my 
church." This language, of course, teaches that the 
church was in the future. At the time the church was 
built, Peter used the keys of the kingdom of heaven. 
It is very evident that his first use of them was on the 
first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ (Acts 
ii.) As the law went forth from Mount Sinai fifty 
days after the first passover, so the new law went forth 
from Zion, and the word of the Lord from the city of 
Jerusalem fifty days after the death of Christ, our 



208 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

Passover. The tendency of the scholarship of Christ- 
endom, at the present time, is to adopt the plain Script- 
ure teaching in regard to the beginning of the church. 

The Unity and Spirit of the Early Church. 

We never read in the New Testament of a plurality 
of churches in any city. We read of the church at 
Jerusalem, of the church at Antioch, of the church at 
Corinth ; but never of churches in those cities. While 
there were, doubtless, many places of meeting, and 
many preachers, the church was a unit, and under one 
management. It is very degrading to the New Testa- 
ment idea of the church to confine it simply to a place 
of meeting. The church in Jerusalem did not contain 
anything else than all the Christians in that great city. 
It does appear to me that there is a great difference 
between the street-corner and cross-road churches of 
to-day, and the church in Jerusalem and the church in 
Antioch of apostolic days. 

When the church in a city is made to include any- 
thing less than all the disciples in that city, there is no 
authority for a plurality of elders in any church. The 
same Spirit that said ordain elders in every church, also 
said ordain elders in every city. The territory of the 
church was exactly the territory of the city. 

There is a good deal of discussion now going on in 
reference to the evangelistic office. Some think that 
the evangelist has no office at all, and others that he is 
an officer in some kind of an invisible church. It must 
be an invisible evangelist that belongs to this invisible 
church. The church in Antioch had no difficulty on 
this question. With its one hundred thousand mem- 
bers, it could support its own ministry, and send evan- 



CHURCH AND CREED OF THE FIRST CENTURY. 200, 

gelists into other fields. As these evangelists were 
appointed to a special work, may they not have been 
officers of the church which was at Antioch ? When 
the church is restored to apostolic unity and spirit, there 
will be no difficulty in evangelizing the world. God 
has ordained it as the pillar and support of the truth ; 
and we can substitute nothing in its place which can 
accomplish the work it is designed to do. There is too 
much tendency at the present time to disorganize the 
church and work independent of it. Every evangelist 
should go out by the authority of the church of God. 
He is an apostle of the church, and should conse- 
quently be sent by the church. We do not, of course, 
object to such co-operation on the part of the churches 
as may be necessary to carry on the work which the 
church is designed to accomplish. 

We can not maintain the unity of the apostolic 
church without also having its spirit. The church in 
Jerusalem presented the best social condition to which 
humanity ever attained. It was a rich compensation 
for their poverty, their persecution, and their danger. 
There was among them an absence of all selfish 
aims, a perfect union of hearts, a thorough sympathy 
among themselves, as they were united in one faith, 
one hope and one love. The truth had penetrated to 
the lowest depths of their affections, and they loved 
the Lord with their whole hearts, and their neighbors 
as themselves. 

The elements of the best society, according to the 
science of sociology, are : (i) A common cause in which 
all are united; (2) A profound conviction of the truth, 
developing the best faculties of their nature ; and (3) 
Such an enthusiastic love that it conquers all selfish 



210 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

elements. These conditions were all fulfilled in the 
early history of the Jerusalem church. Then was ac- 
complished the greatest missionary work of the world. 
God grant that the church may again be restored to its 
original unity and spirit. 

The Creed of the Apostolic Church. 

Every church must have a creed which is the object 
of its faith. No person has a right to membership in 
a church unless he can accept the creed of that church ; 
for the creed expresses the faith of that body. The 
idea of some, that a man can retain membership in a 
church and reject its creed, does not indicate a well de- 
veloped conscience. 

The creed of a church antedates the church, and 
the church is built upon it. It is a mistake to suppose 
that the Christian Church has no creed. We have a 
creed, but it is a divine one. It is the creed upon 
which the church was reared in apostolic times. It 
antedates the New Testament itself. It is a mistake to 
say that the New Testament is our creed. It is our 
rule of faith and practice, but Christ is our creed. The 
church was built upon a divine person, and he is the 
central figure of the whole Bible. Those who accept 
this divine creed must necessarily believe in the inspi- 
ration of the Bible. 

The language of the text reveals to us the true 
creed of the church. Simon Peter confessed Jesus to 
be the Christ, the Son of the living God. He was the 
Son of the God of Israel, in contrast with those who 
claimed to be sons of the heathen gods. Jesus declared 
the confession of Peter to be a revelation from the 
Father in heaven. We find this revelation in Matthew, 



CHURCH AND CREED OF THE FIRST CENTURY. 211 

third chapter, in the voice that came from heaven de^ 
daring that the one whom John had baptized was His 
beloved Son in whom He was well pleased. 

Jesus said to Peter, "Thou art Peter; and upon 
this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of hades 
shall not prevail against it." I find that Dr. Broadus, 
in his new Commentary on Matthew, takes the posi- 
tion that "this rock" refers directly to Simon Peter. 
He thinks it the natural interpretation ; but it appears 
to my mind to be the unnatural one. It is certain that 
some of the best Catholic authorities, as well as Prot- 
estants, are against his position. The context is also 
against it. The conversation was not about Peter, but 
about the Christ. The object was to reveal Jesus as 
the Christ the son of God. The word Petros is mascu- 
line gender, while Petra is feminine ; and they must 
necessarily refer to different antecedents, especially as 
they are in the same sentence. Besides Petros means 
only a fragment of a rock, while Petra means a solid 
rock. 

It is claimed that Christ could not have occupied in 
the figure both the positions of foundation and builder. 
It is true that he did not occupy them both at the same 
time. He laid the foundation while upon earth, and 
did the building afterwards. We have examples in 
both the Old and New Testaments where he occupied 
double positions in figures. He was both the High 
Priest and sacrifice in the sin offering and the atone- 
ment. In John, tenth chapter, we find Jesus in the 
figure both the door and the good shepherd. "This 
rock " certainly has for its antecedent the Good Con- 
fession made by Peter that Jesus is the Christ of God. 
The anointed Son of God is the foundation of the 



212 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

Church, and the Good Confession is the divine Formula 
of the Christian's faith. The Good Confession is the 
rock only as it expresses the fact that Jesus is the 
Christ of God. 

"The gates of hades shall not prevail against it." 
The word hades denotes the unseen world, or the abode 
of the departed. It corresponds to the Hebrew word 
s/ieo/, which has substantially the same meaning. The 
English word hell originally denoted about the same 
thing. It is from the Anglo-Saxon helan, to hide, and 
was a good translation of hades. The English word 
hell now denotes a place of torment, and has so changed 
its meaning that the word hades can no longer be trans- 
lated by it. Hades includes both paradise and tartarus, 
for Lazarus was in paradise while Dives was in tartarus. 
I understand that it was the divine foundation of the 
church against which the gates of hades could not pre- 
vail. Jesus passed through the gates of hades, but 
they did not stay closed against him. He came forth 
from the silent grave, and brought life and immortality 
to light. 

It is a great misfortune to the church that human 
creeds have been substituted in the place of the divine 
one. They have greatly impeded the progress of 
Christianity. The English historian, Froude, has called 
attention to this fact, and he mentions human creeds as 
being in the way of the progress of Protestantism. 
Many churches have become so wedded to them that 
they will not give them up for the true creed of Christ- 
endom. They are like the old maid who permitted a 
poodle-dog to get between her and her lover. He in- 
sisted that she must give up the poodle-dog for the 
love she had for him, as he was willing to give up any 



CHURCH AND CREED OF THE FIRST CENTURY. 213 

idol he might have on account of his love for her. 
She, however, clung to the poodle, and let her lover 
go. It does appear that many churches in Christen- 
dom are determined to hold on to their pet creeds, no 
difference what the consequences may be. It is cer- 
tain that the Christian world will never unite upon any 
human creed. It is also certain that the world will 
never be converted to Christ until the church is a unit. 
If all professed Christians would fully accept the Creed 
and Church of apostolic times, it would not be many 
years until the world would be converted to Christ. 



THE ONE BAPTISM. 

[Delivered in Scranton, Pa., in answer to a Methodist Presiding Elder.) 
" One Lord, one faith, one baptism'' (Eph. iv. 5). 

This baptism is water baptism, and not the baptism 
of the Holy Spirit. The one Spirit is mentioned in the 
preceding verse. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is 
always a promise, and not a command. John baptized 
in (Greek, en) water, but Christ was to baptize in the 
Holy Spirit and fire. 

"I indeed baptize you (en) in water unto repent- 
ance : but he that cometh after me is mighter than I, 
whose shoes I am not worthy to bear : he shall baptize 
you (en) in the Holy Spirit, and (en) in fire : whose fan 
is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, 
and gather his wheat into the garner ; but he will burn 
up the chaff with unquenchable fire " (Matt. iii. 11, 12). 

John addressed two classes, the righteous and the 
wicked ; the first to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and 
the second in fire (Acts i. 4; Rev. xx. 15). The bap- 
tism in the Holy Spirit always conferred miraculous 
power (Acts ii. 1-4; x. 45, 46). The gift of the Holy 
Spirit is not a baptism in the Holy Spirit, and is not so 
called in the Bible ; but it is the Comforter which abides 
with the Christian forever (Acts ii. 38 ; Gal. iv. 6). 

The Holy Spirit exerts his influence on the sinner's 

heart through the word of truth ; for the word is the 

sword of the Spirit (Eph. vi. 17). In the baptism of the 
214 



THE ONE BAPTISM. 215 

Holy Spirit, the spirit of the person was entirely im- 
mersed (not sprinkled or poured) in the Holy Spirit 
(Acts ii. 1-4). The Spirit filled all the house where 
they were sitting, and their spirits were immersed in 
the Holy Spirit, which enabled them to speak in other 
tongues. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was never 
initiatory; but the one baptism of Eph. iv. 5, initiated 
into the one body. This one body is the church or 
present kingdom, and is the only kingdom to which we 
can belong in the present state. We can belong to 
no invisible kingdom until we go into the invisible 
world. With the facts before us, we are forced to con- 
clude that the one baptism of the text is water baptism. 
This being true, what is the act expressed by the word 
baptize? It must be remembered that baptism is an 
act, and not a mode. The word baptize is an Angli- 
cised Greek word, and corresponds to the Latin mergo, 
which means to immerse. The Greek for sprinkle and 
pour is not baptizo, but rantizo and cheo. The word 
baptizo can not mean sprinkle, pour, and immerse, but 
if it could it would require all three to constitute a script- 
ural baptism ; for the whole is equal to the sum of all 
its parts. The only definition given to the word baptizo 
in the new American Cyclopedia, is to dip. It may be 
asked why the word is not translated into English in 
the common version ? I answer, the translators were 
Pedobaptists, and would not translate it for the same 
reason that they will not translate it now. They knew 
that the word does not mean sprinkle or pour. They 
were unwilling to translate it immerse, and conse- 
quently preferred to leave it untranslated. The reason 
why it is so obscure to the people is the fact that it is 
Greek, and not English. We will now give a rule by 



2l6 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

which it can always be told when the correct definition 
of a word is given. The meaning of the word when 
substituted for the word itself, always makes complete 
sense. Let us by this rule test sprinkle, pour, and im- 
merse, and see which is the correct meaning of baptizo. 
14 Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and 
all the region round about Jordan, and were sprinkled 
of him in Jordan, confessing their sins " (Matt. iii. 5, 
6). "Buried with him in sprinkling, wherein also ye 
are risen with him through the faith of the operation 
of God, who has raised him from the dead" (Col. ii. 
12). " Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, 
and all the region round about Jordan, and were poured 
of him in Jordan, confessing their sins " (Matt. v. 6). 
11 Buried with him in pouring, wherein also ye are risen 
with him through the faith of the operation of God, 
who hath raised him from the dead" (Col. ii. 12). It 
is quite evident that neither of these words properly 
defines the word baptizo. In baptism the person is the 
subject of the act, and not the thing. In sprinkling 
and pouring the water is make the subject of the act, 
instead of the person. You can not, strictly speaking, 
sprinkle or pour a man, much less sprinkle or pour him 
in a river. We now take the word immerse. "Then 
went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the 
region round about Jordan, and were immersed of him 
in Jordan, confessing their sins." "Buried with him 
in immersion, wherein also ye are risen with him 
through the faith of the operation of God, who hath 
raised him from the dead." This word exactly meets 
the requirements of the context. There is nothing 
that more beautifully represents a burial and resurrec- 



THE ONE BAPTISM. 21/ 

tion than does immersion. We now look at the sub- 
ject from a historical standpoint. 

I. CLASSICAL AUTHORS. 

1. Aristotle flourished three hundred and fifty years 
b. c, and is celebrated throughout the world for his 
accuracy in the use of terms. He, in his work con- 
cerning wonderful reports, Volume VI., page 136, says: 
"They say that the Phoenicians, who inhabited the so- 
called Gadira, sailing four days outside of the Pillars of 
Hercules, with an east wind, came to desert places full 
of rushes and sea weed ; which, when it is ebb-tide, are 
not immersed (baptized), but when it is flood-tide are 
overflowed (katakhizo).^ 

2. Polybius flourished about one hundred and fifty 
years b. c, and was a very eminent Greek historian. 
He understood well the meaning of words in his own 
language, and says, concerning the word baptizo, in his 
history, Book III., chap. 72, paragraph 4 : "They," 
speaking of the Roman army crossing the Thebia, 
" passed through with difficulty, the foot soldiers being 
immersed (baptizo) as far as their breasts." It is very 
evident that the Greek authors always used the word 
baptizo in the sense in which we use the word immerse. 

11. — JOSEPHUS. 

Flavius Josephus was born in Jerusalem, in a. d. 37, 
and died in the city of Rome, a. d. 100. He was a 
Jew, belonging to the sacerdotal order of the sect* of 
the Pharisees. No one in his day was better in- 
structed in Hebrew and Greek literature. He was 
taken by Titus, after the destruction of Jerusalem, to 
Rome, where he spent the remainder of his days in 



2lS THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

literary pursuits. He was certainly one of the most 
learned of all the Hellenistic Greek writers, and as he 
was contemporary with the apostles, he is good au- 
thority in settling the meaning of the Greek baptizo. 
In his Jewish Antiquities, Book IV., chap. 4, para- 
graph 6, while describing the manner of purifying the 
people during the thirty days they mourned for Miriam, 
he says: " When, therefore, any persons were defiled 
by the dead body, they put a little of the ashes of the 
red heifer into spring water ; and immersing (baptizo) a 
branch of hyssop in it, they sprinkled them with it, 
both on the third day and on the seventh ; and after 
that they were clean." In his same work, Book IX., 
chap. 10, paragraph 2, in speaking of the case of Jonah, 
our author says : " Now at the first they durst not do 
so " (cast Jonah into the sea), "esteeming it a wicked 
thing to cast a man who was a stranger, and who had 
committed his life to them, into such manifest per- 
dition. But at last, when their misfortunes overbore 
them, and the ship was just going to be submerged (bap- 
tizo), and when they were animated to do it by the 
prophet himself, and by the fear concerning their own 
safety, they cast him into the sea." We might give 
many other examples from Josephus ; but these are 
sufficient to warrant the conclusion that he always used 
the word baptizo as equivalent to our word immerse or 
some one of its equivalents. 

III. — THE SEPTUAGINT. 

This version of the Old Testament is a translation 
of the Hebrew into Greek, and was made in Egypt 
under the patronage of Ptolemy Philadelphus, about 
two hundred and eighty years b. c. As an example of 



THE ONE BAPTISM. 2IO, 

the use of baptizo in the Septuagint, we give II. Kings 
v. 14 : " And Naaman went down and immersed (bap- 
tizo) himself seven times in the Jordan, according to 
the saying of Elisha ; and his flesh came again as the 
flesh of a little child, and he was clean." 

The Hebrew corresponding to the Greek baptizo, is 
translated dipped in the Common Version, in the ex- 
ample which we have just given. 

IV. THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

1. John's Baptism. John always baptized in a river, 
or where there was much water. Matt. iii. 5,6: • ' Then 
went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the 
region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him 
in Jordan, confessing their sins." "And John also 
was baptizing in Enon near to Salim, because there 
was much water there : and they came and were bap- 
tized " (John iii. 23). 

The Saviour was baptized in the river Jordan. 
"Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan, unto 
John, to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, 
saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest 
thou to me? And Jesus answering, said unto him, 
Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to ful- 
fill all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Je- 
sus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of 
the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, 
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, 
and lighting upon him : and, lo, a voice from heaven 
saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased" (Matt. iii. 13-17). 

2. The Saviour taught and commanded immersion. 
In John iii. 5, immersion is very clearly taught in the 



220 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

birth of the water. " Except a man be born of water 
and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of 
God." This is generally admitted by commentators to 
refer to baptism, and in order to meet the requirements 
of the figure an immersion is absolutely necessary. 
Jesus commanded the apostles to immerse all who 
were made disciples through their preaching (Matt, 
xxviii. 19; Mark xvi. 16). In these passages the word 
baptizo is used, which we have shown to mean immerse. 
3. The apostles always practiced immersion. 

a. On the day of Pentecost three thousand persons 
were immersed (Acts ii. 38-41). The objector says 
that so large a number could not have been immersed 
by the apostles in one day. We can show, by a simple 
calculation, that they could easily immerse that num- 
ber in less than five hours. One man can immerse one 
person per minute. This will make sixty per hour. 
There were twelve apostles ; so they could immerse 
seven hundred and twenty per hour. Divide three 
thousand by this number, and we ascertain that it 
would take the twelve apostles but four and one-sixth 
hours to immerse the three thousand. I can immerse 
a person in much less time than any one can sprinkle 
or pour him, and go through with the ritual usually re- 
quired in Pedobaptist churches. 

b. The Ethiopian eunuch (Acts viii. 36-38). 
Philip preached unto him Jesus: "And as they 

went on their way they came unto a certain water; and 
the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder 
me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest 
with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered 
and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 
And he commanded the chariot to stand still; and they 



THE ONE BAPTISM. 221 

went down both into the water, both Philip and the 
eunuch ; and he baptized him And when they were 
come up out of the water the Spirit of the Lord caught 
away Philip that the eunuch saw him no more ; and 
he went on his way rejoicing." The advocates of 
sprinkling and pouring say that there was not sufficient 
water in which to immerse the eunuch. In answer to 
this, we simply say, "They came unto a certain 
water." Where there is enough water to supply the 
demands of man and animals, there is sufficient in 
which to be immersed. The objector also says they 
only went down to the water. The narrative states they 
came to a certain water, and then went down into it. 
The anecdote in reference to the Dutchman is a suf- 
ficient answer to such objectors. Daniel did not go 
into the lion's den, but only to it. The wicked are not 
cast into hell, but only to it, close enough to be warm. 
The righteous do not go into the gates of the city, but 
only to them. Another objection to the immersion of 
the eunuch is that he was reading the fifty-third chapter 
of Isaiah, which contains the word sprinkle. This is 
a mistake. It is the fifty-second chapter and fifteenth 
verse, that contains the word sprinkle: "So shall he 
sprinkle many nations." This refers to the blood of 
Christ : for it was he who was to sprinkle the nations, 

The apostle Paul gives a full explanation of this and 
all similar passages of Scripture, in Heb. x. 22: " Let 
us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith 
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, 
and our bodies washed with pure water." A little 
water, sprinkled or poured on the head, does not wash 
the body with pure water. 

c. The Philippian Jailer (Acts xvi. 30-34). 



222 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

Paul and Silas preached the gospel to him, and to 
all that v/ere in his house. He took them out of his 
house the same hour of the night, washed their stripes, 
and was baptized, he and all his, immediately. He 
then brought them into his house, "set meat before 
them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." 
This example affords strong circumstantial evidence in 
favor of immersion ; for if sprinkling or pouring were 
all that was required, it would not have been necessary 
for them to go out of the house. 

d. Saul of Tarsus (Acts xii. 26). Saul was in a re- 
cumbent position, and Ananias said unto him : " Arise, 
and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the 
name of the Lord." We have here also circumstantial 
evidence in favor of immersion ; for if he were to be 
sprinkled or poured, he might as well have remained 
upon his knees, as candidates commonly do for that 
ceremony ; but immersion required him to arise, and 
do that which was necessary to its peformance. 

e. The Israelites were baptized into Moses in the 
cloud and in the sea (I. Cor. x. 1, 2). The sea was on 
both sides of them, and the cloud above ; so they were 
baptized, or immersed, "unto Moses in the cloud and 
in the sea." 

4. Baptism is a monumental institution, and represents 
the burial and resurrection of Christ. <4 Know ye not 
that so many of us as were baptized into Christ were 
baptized into his death. Therefore we are buried with 
him by baptism into death ; that like as Christ was 
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, 
even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if 
we have been planted together in the likeness of his 
death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrec- 



THE ONE BAPTISM. 223 

tion " (Rom. vi. 3-5). " Buried with him in baptism, 
wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of 
the operation of God, who hath raised him from the 
dead" (Col. ii. 12). 

V. — CHURCH HISTORY. 

We have shown from the classics, from Josephus, 
from the Septuagint, and especially from the New Tes- 
tament, that the word baptizo always means to immerse, 
or some one of its equivalents. We have also shown 
that Christ commanded, and the apostles always prac- 
ticed, immersion. We will now show from church his- 
tory that immersion was the universal practice of the 
early church. 

I . The Apostolic Fathers. 

a. The Greek Fathers. 

(1.) Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, was born at Jeru- 
salem, about A. d. 312, and was made bishop in 350. 
In his "Instruction on Baptism," he says : "For as 
Jesus, assuming the sins of the world, died, that having 
slain sin he might raise thee to righteousness ; so also, 
thou going down into the water, and in a manner buried 
in the waters, as he in the rock, art raised again, walk- 
ing in newness of life." 

(2.) Basil the Great, Archbishop of Csesarea, and 
one of the most learned of the Greek Fathers, flour- 
ished in the fourth century. In his work, "On the 
Holy Spirit," he says : "Imitating the burial of Christ 
by the immersion (baptisma) for the bodies of those im- 
mersed (baptizo) are, as it were, buried in the water." 

b. The Latin Fathers. 

(1.) Tertullian lived in the second century, and was 
one of the most learned of the Latin Fathers. In his 



224 THE APOSTOLIC PULPIT. 

work, "On the Resurrection of the Body," chapter 
forty-seven, he says: " Know ye not that so many of 
us as were immersed into Jesus Christ were immersed 
into his death ? For by an image we die in baptism ; 
but we truly rise in the flesh, as also did Christ." 

(2.) Ambrose flourished in the fourth century, and 
presided as a bishop in Gaul for twenty-two years. In 
his work, "On the Sacraments," Book II., chapter 
seven, in speaking of baptism, he says : ' ' Thou wast 
asked : dost thou believe in God, the Father Almighty ? 
Thou saidst, I believe ; and thou didst sink down, that 
is, thou wast buried." 

We thus see that both the Greek and Latin Fathers 
understood the word (baptizd) to mean immerse, and 
that immersion was exclusively practiced until the 
middle of the third century. About that time sprink- 
ling and pouring were practiced in cases of extreme ill- 
ness ; but the water had to be sprinkled or poured all 
over the person, so as to represent, as nearly as pos- 
sible, an immersion ; and such a person was never 
permitted to hold an office in the church. 

c. Catholics and Reformers. 

It was not until 131 1, at a council held at Ravenna, 
that sprinkling and pouring were declared sufficient 
when the person could be immersed. All Pedobaptist 
writers of any note acknowledge that immersion was 
the practice of the ancient church ; so, if we felt dis- 
posed to compromise it, we could not feel at liberty to 
do so with such a host of witnesses in its favor. It 
may be asked why did Luther, Calvin and Wesley 
practice sprinkling or pouring, when they all testify 
that immersion was the practice ol the apostles ? The 
answer to this question is, that they came from the 



THE ONE BAPTISM. 225 

Roman Church, and retained that much of her prac- 
tices. 

Another reason is, their attention was given to other 
subjects, and not specially called to that of baptism ; 
but what they did say on the subject was in favor of 
immersion. Some one may wish to know why sprink- 
ling and pouring were substituted for immersion. We 
answer, the Pope claims the right to change ordinances. 
The Catholic can plead the authority of the Pope, but 
what excuse there is for the Protestant, I am unable to 
say. 

Immersion is the Catholic or universal baptism, because 
all acknowledge its validity. Christian union is very 
desirable, and necessary to the conversion of the world 
(John xvii. 21). We know of no better basis than the 
apostolic: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." It is 
always safe to choose that which all acknowledge to be 
right. Suppose A has two notes, one on B and the 
other on C, each having on its face fifty dollars. D 
wishes to purchase them. A tells him that the note on 
B is good, but some question it. He then makes in- 
quiry concerning the note on C. A responds that 
there is no dispute about it. D says, I will take one 
about which there is no dispute. Is this not rational ? 
Choose the "one baptism," which all acknowledge to 
be apostolic. 



Part III.— POPULAR LECTURES. 



SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE. 

[Delivered in the Seventh Street Christian Church, Richmond, Va,] 

Science may be considered as a species under the 
genus knowledge. Although science is derived from 
a Latin word, which means knowledge, all knowledge 
is not science. If it were, all men would be scientists. 
Science is knowledge, organized into a system. If it 
is doubtful, such knowledge can not be considered 
science. Paul taught Timothy to avoid false science, 
which teaching implies that he should not avoid the 
true. False science also implies that there is science 
which is true. The false science referred to by Paul, 
was the doctrine of endless genealogies and certain 
speculative questions which have no right to the appel- 
lation science. 

The hypothetical sciences, which assume certain 

premises, from which the conclusion must necessarily 

follow, are only indirectly related to religion. The 

certainty of the science has nothing to do with any 

fact, but comes from the necessary relations of thought. 

The premises are based upon the intuitions of the 

human mind ; and these intuitions point back to an 

intelligent author as an adequate cause for a marvelous 
226 



SCIENXE AND THE BIBLE. 227 

-effect. A mathematical conclusion is only reached by 
demonstration, and this has blinded the eyes of some 
mathematicians to the moral force of facts, and has 
been an occasion of skepticism. It was this species 
of narrowness -that led into the pathway of infidelity, 
the celebrated La Place. A specialty is very danger- 
ous when it causes a man to ignore all other truth. 
A philosophical astronomer has said that an undevout 
astronomer is mad. Why this? Because the heavens 
declare God's glory, and the firmament showeth forth 
his handwork. The skeptical mathematician places 
the universe under absolute laws ; but what astrono- 
mer can predict, with absolute certainty, that an 
eclipse will take place at a certain time next year ? 
Might not a new comet, with a tail as long as its cir- 
cuit, come in, and leave the demonstration as idle 
figures on paper? The forces of nature depend upon 
a will which can suspend them when thought proper. 

It is to my mind self-evident that intelligence and 
will lie among the materials of science, as thoughts 
among the pages of a book. It is claimed by the 
skeptic that the uniformities of nature, without which 
there could be no science, preclude the idea of free 
will. We do not think that such is the case. But, 
on the contrary, the uniformities of nature are a proof 
of the personality and freedom of their author. God 
has so constituted man that he naturally expects uni- 
formity in nature ; so the philosophy of man and the 
science of nature perfectly harmonize. 

Personality and free will are indicated in nature, 
because natural science itself shows that science has 
not always been possible, for nature's uniformities have 
not been permanent, but have changed through dif- 



228 POPULAR LECTURES. 

ferent epochs. Geology points to a beginning not 
less emphatically than do the Scriptures. To a begin- 
ning she goes back, and becomes silent. Science 
also teaches us that, after the beginning, there were 
periods when science was impossible. There could be 
no science, when the earth was in a chaotic state ; 
when the water swept unchecked over the mountains; 
when the mighty Saurians were monarchs of all they 
surveyed. What science would there now be if the 
earth were riven, and the wide Pacific and the majestic 
Atlantic were to pour their waters upon the great 
internal fiery ocean of which geologists speak ? The 
different species now upon earth are manifestations of 
the Creator's wisdom and power ; for they are not the 
result of progress in a perpetual circle, but were cre- 
ated by Jehovah. 

Faith presents truths of which natural science is 
ignorant. What does science know about love, the 
most potent power in the universe? The true, the 
beautiful, and the good, antedate all science. The 
great difficulty with the physicist is his narrowness;, 
he concludes that there is no truth beyond his spe- 
cialty, and disqualifies himself for a judge of other 
truths. Even the astronomer is ignorant of the great 
movement, which is sweeping all — sun, moon, and 
stars — to the far eastern goal, to which everything is 
tending. 

The Monkey and the Man. 

It is evident that the theory of Mr. Darwin directly 
contradicts the Bible doctrine of creation. It also 
supersedes the necessity of Christianity ; for if man 
never fell, there can not, of course, be any necessity 



SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE. 229 

of a Redeemer. Religion means to rebind, and there 
can not be any rebinding until there is first an unbind- 
ing. The position that makes the first man the lowest 
type of savage can not be harmonized with the fall of 
man. The following facts are, to my mind, conclu- 
sive evidence against the Darwinian hypothesis : 

1. We discover in nature a general plan; for there 
is a distinction of classes, genera and species. If the 
theory of Mr. Darwin were true, we would expect just 
the opposite ; for if fortuity, and not intelligence, is 
the guiding principle, we would naturally expect to 
'find animals with all manner of excesses and deficiencies. 
'Some might have eyes where the ears are ; the ears in 
front, and the nose behind. A horse might have the 
liorns of a cow ; and a cow the head of a rhinoceros. 
All thoughtful persons must admit that the order and 
adaptation found in the natural universe can not be 
the result of anything less than intelligence. 

2. Geology has revealed to us the fact that some of 
the highest and most complicated vegetable and ani- 
mal organizations were introduced suddenly upon the 
rscene, and were not the result of development. Huge 
ferns and pines were suddenly introduced, with not 
even mosses between them and seaweeds. Sharks and 
ganoids, more than twenty feet in length, and of the 
very highest type of fish structure, commenced the 
Devonian Age. Gigantic reptiles, sixty and seventy 
feet long, introduced the Reptilian Age. The Age of 
Mammals began with the great Mastodons, compared 
with which the animals of our day are mere pigmies. 
Prof. Dana claims that in some parts of the world the 
ox was introduced before the monkey. 

3. No scientist has ever been able to present even 



230 POPULAR LECTURES. 

one example of the production of one species by an- 
other. If such has ever been the case, it is reasonable 
to suppose that it would have been found out by some- 
body. Instead of this being the case, we have an in- 
superable bar to it, set up by nature itself. Against 
the transmutation of species the God of nature has 
established the impassable bar of sterility. 

4. The first man was a miracle, whether made out 
of a monkey or out of red earth, for men are not 
made that way at the present time. The theory of 
the development is mainly designed to banish the super- 
natural from the universe ; but this it can not do, for 
we are unable to account for the natural without ad- 
mitting the agency of the supernatural. 

5. The habits and physical structure of the monkey 
differ so greatly from the same in man that it would 
have required a miracle to develop one into the other. 
The gorilla, an ugly and ferocious beast, with its 
brutish face, no more resembles man than does the 
grim visage of a grizzly bear. The gorilla is man's 
bitterest foe. It acts on the offensive, and attacks 
man as soon as it has an opportunity. It is said that 
its jaws are such that it can easily crush the barrel of 
a gun between its teeth. 

6. We observe an intellectual and a moral differ- 
ence between the monkey and the man which renders 
the evolution theory impossible. Prof. Huxley says 
that every bone of man can be distinguished from the 
corresponding bone in the gorilla. All the mental 
faculties of man can as easily be distinguished from 
the same faculties in the highest ape. Man is a 
being of progress. The monkey, by its non-progres- 
sive character, is internally bound to the brute crea- 



SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE. 23 1 

tion. It looks no higher than the earth ; but man 
looks to the heavens. Man is a religious being, and 
is destined to a higher state than this world ; but the 
monkey is entirely of this world, and has no aspira- 
tions beyond this sublunary sphere. 

Archceology and Primitive Man, 

Until a comparatively recent date the term "Ar- 
chaeology" was confined to Egyptian, Greek, and 
Roman art. The word literally means a description of 
ancient things, and it has now been adopted to denote 
the science which deduces history from the relics of 
the past. Archaeology is a science which links itself 
to geology ; for just where geology ends archaeology 
begins. The modern skeptic takes hold of this recent 
science, as he does, in fact, of all the sciences, to over- 
throw the Biblical account of early life on this planet. 

While we do not, of course, claim any divine au- 
thority for the chronology placed in the Bible by 
uninspired hands, I think, that we are perfectly 
safe in stating that no discoveries in the science of 
archaeology contradict, in any sense, the chronology 
of the Septuagint, which places the creation of man 
5509 b. c. This version of the Bible was used by the 
apostles and by nearly all the church fathers. The 
chronology of the Septuagint was almost universally 
adopted by the primitive church. 

Those who advocate anti-biblical views in reference 
to man's origin and antiquity, claim that he first ap- 
peared among living beings as a savage, and was but 
little above the brute. The first implements he used 
were of stone, and he soon learned to polish the stone ; 



232 POPULAR. LECTURES. 

hence the first age is called "The Stone Age." After 
having used stone for a long time, he became ac- 
quainted with copper. He learned to mix this with 
tin, thus converting it into bronze ; and the general use 
of this alloyed metal gave the second age the name of 
"The Bronze Age." The next forward step was to 
learn the use of iron, which indicated considerable 
civilization. The name given to this important age 
was "The Iron Age." It. is claimed that when we 
unite these different ages, they present a chronology 
too early for the Biblical account of man's origin. 

All this is mere conjecture, and not established fact. 
The Duke of Argyle truly says: "They talk of an 
old Stone Age and of a newer Stone Age, and of a 
Bronze Age, and of an Iron Age : now there is no 
proof whatever that such ages ever existed in the 
world." If men are permitted to substitute hypothe- 
sis for truth, and mere conjecture for fact, almost any 
kind of contradictory theory can be gotten up. 

If we admit that mankind has passed through these 
stages, they give us no means of calculating the age of 
the race ; for the different stages would overlap and 
fade into one another, as do the colors of a rainbow. 
It would not be possible for us to draw any lines by 
which their breadths could be estimated. Again, the 
people in some countries would advance more rapidly 
than those living in others ; so we would have some in 
the Stone Age, while others were in the Bronze Age, 
while there were still others in the Iron. It is a fact 
that the Egyptians had chariots of iron, while the 
nations of Northern Europe had only weapons of stone. 
The Hebrews bent their bows of steel, when the Brit- 
ons had only bronze tools for arms. Even at the pres- 



SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE. 233 

ent time there are many tribes which use only stone 
and bronze, and have not yet reached their Iron Age. 
Some great writer has said that every scientific 
opinion is speculative. There are but few positions 
occupied by the scientists of one hundred years age 
which have stood the tests of time. As men have in- 
creased in knowledge, these have all been abandoned. 
The Bible, on the other hand, has more advocates 
now than it has ever had before. The more men 
study it, the greater becomes their faith in its divine 
authenticity ; and the better they understand it, the 
more useful they can be in their day and generation. 
While we advocate the highest scientific and literary 
advancement, we believe the Bible to be the true cen- 
ter of universal culture. 

Ethnology and the Unity of the Race. 

Ethnology, a science of quite recent origin, treats 
■of National Distinctions. It deals chiefly with the 
effects of physical influences on man, such as food, 
soil, and climate. In this respect it very much resem- 
bles Geology. It deals with the peoples that inhabit 
the earth, as does Geology with the strata that com- 
pose it. 

Some naturalists have taken the position that in- 
stead of the human family having descended from one 
pair, it has had many sources ; and that each race has 
•had its own Adam and Eve. Prof. Agassiz, the dis- 
tinguished Naturalist of Harvard, was opposed to the 
doctrine of the Unity of the Race. Sir R. I. Murchi- 
son advocated the position that the different races not 
only proceeded from various original stocks, but that 



234 POPULAR LECTURES 

they were also introduced upon the earth at different 
periods. Gladdon and Nott have maintained that the 
races of men are different creatures ; that the Negro 
and Indian are incapable of reaching a high civiliza- 
tion ; that they have not sufficient mental power to 
perceive religious truths, and that there is not for them 
any more immortality than there is for the brute. 

It is useless to state that this doctrine is contradic- 
tory to some of the plainest statements found in the 
Word of God. The Bible clearly teaches that the 
whole human family descended from one man, Adam, 
whom God created in His own image, and from one 
woman, Eve, who was the mother of all the living. 
A central truth, in the Bible, is the fact that all man- 
kind died in the first Adam ; and that the whole race 
is to be made alive in the second Adam, the Lord from 
Heaven. 

It is thought by the opponents to the doctrine of 
the unity of the human family, that the difference be- 
tween the races in reference to the quality of the hair, 
the color of the skin, and the form of the skull, justi- 
fies their position. We think not ; for all these things 
can be satisfactorily accounted for by considering care- 
fully the influence of climate upon, and the habits of 
life among the different races. Besides this, those na- 
tions, which are known to be of one origin, frequently 
differ as much among themselves as do the different 
races of mankind. The dark Hindoo and the blonde 
Norwegian, the light-haired German, and the black- 
haired Frenchman, are known to be of one race ; yet 
they differ nearly as much among themselves as do 
the different races of mankind from one another. The 
science of Physiology is now sufficient, not only to 



SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE. 235 

explain the causes of difference in the color of the 
skin, but also the reasons why the hair of different in- 
dividuals and different races is not alike. As the hair 
is but a modification of the skin, the coloring matters 
in its pigment cells influence it, as do certain pigment 
cells the color of the skin. In golden hair, there is an 
excess of oxygen and sulphur, with a deficiency of 
carbon ; but in black hair, the deficiency is in sulphur 
and oxygen, with the excess of carbon. These things 
are sufficient to explain the difference between the 
golden hair of the American blonde and the black 
wool of the African. 

We mention briefly the points of identity between 
the different races, which clearly teach the unity of 
mankind : 

i. The great laws of the vital functions are the 
same in all races. 

2. Fertility is considered a sure test as to a specific 
identity. The different races are not only fertile with 
one another, but their offspring are equally fertile. 
Abundant proof of this can be found in every quarter 
of the globe. 

' 3. The language of the different races can be traced to 
one original language. Language is peculiar to man, and 
all races have this peculiarity. The greatest of living 
Philologists have now reached the conclusion that all 
language may be classified into three classes — the 
Aryan, the Semitic, and the Turanian. These point 
back to Japheth, Shem and Ham. 

4. All races have the same intellectual faculties. 

5. All races worship. God has given the same 
object of worship to all, and commands all men to re- 
pent- 



236 POPULAR LECTURES. 

Chronology and the Antiquity of Man. 

Chronology is a science of great importance to the 
Bible student, for it not only assists him in understand- 
ing Scripture, but it is of great benefit in the study of 
history in general. The chronology used for all peri- 
ods preceding the birth of Christ is that based on the 
Masoretic Text of the Old Testament. This some- 
times differs from the Septuagint Text, and also from 
the Samaritan. It must be remembered that our 
chronology is human and not divine. While all the 
statements of the Bible are divine, the dates in the 
margin are human, just as are its divisions into verses 
and chapters. The inspiration of the Bible is not 
affected, although its chronology may be considered 
an open question. With these few remarks, we wish 
to examine briefly the bearings of the most recent de- 
velopments in chronological science upon the credibil- 
ity of Bible history. 

1. It is claimed that there was not sufficient time 
between the Flood and the Call of Abraham for the 
production of the immense population on the globe 
when the great Patriarch came into the land of Canaan. 
It is generally admitted that Abraham was called about 
2000 years b. c. According to the Septuagint chro- 
nology, which was universally followed by the primi- 
tive church, it was 1,247 years from the Flood to the 
Call of Abraham. The Science of Sociology now 
teaches that the population of the earth doubles every 
twenty-five years. This removes all difficulty in refer- 
ence to the population of the earth when Abraham 
came into the land of Canaan. 

2. Some think that there has not been sufficient 



SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE. 23/ 

time from the Noachian Deluge for the production of 
the number of diverse languages that now exist. The 
Bible student has no difficulty on this subject, for he 
remembers the confusion of tongues at the Tower of 
Babel. All linguists must admit that living languages 
are constantly changing. In order to give us a per- 
manent record of his will, God has deposited the Bible 
in the Hebrew and Greek languages, which ceased to 
live as soon 'as this was done, so that they might be 
the eternal depositories of living truth. Our transla- 
tions undergo so many changes that a revision is neces- 
sary every few years. Sir Charles Lyell says that none 
of the languages of modern Europe are one thousand 
years old. No English scholar who has not studied 
Anglo-Saxon can read the laws of England written in 
the days of King Alfred. The same thing is true in 
other languages. The Germans of to-day do not un- 
derstand the language of their Teutonic ancestors of 
the tenth or eleventh century. The French can not, 
without careful study, understand the language of 
Charlemagne. The modern Italian can not be traced 
back far beyond the days of Dante. We may safely 
conclude that modern Philology removes all difficulty 
in reference to the Bible doctrine of the development 
of the languages from one primitive stock. 

3. The Eyptian Monarchy seems to give modern 
skeptical writers a good deal of trouble. They do not 
see how, according to church chronology, Egypt 
could have reached such a high civilization in the days 
of Abraham. Mr. Poole, of the British Museum, who 
is considered the highest authority on the subject of 
Egyptian chronology, thinks that the reign of Menes 
could not have been more than 700 years before the 



2$% POPULAR LECTURES. 

visit of the Patriarch Abraham to that country. From 
his reign to the Flood would then be, according to the 
Septuagint chronology, 547 years. As the population 
of the earth doubles itself every twenty-five years, 
Egypt must have been quite a populous country in 
the days of Menes. It is not surprising that Abra- 
ham, 700 years after that time, found Egypt one of 
the most civilized countries of the world. The science 
of chronology, as of all other sciences, the better it is 
understood, the more light it throws upon the Revela- 
tion God has given to man. 

Zoology and the Noachian Deluge. 

The historic and traditionary evidence of the 
Noachian Deluge is so conclusive, that even the great- 
est enemies of the Bible are compelled to acknowledge 
its force. The mythologies of all the ancient nations 
are full of remembrances of the great catastrophe. It 
is described in the legends of the Greeks and sung in the 
poetry of the Romans. It is represented in the hoary 
hieroglyphics of Egypt and in the sculptured caves of 
India. It has not even been omitted in the pictured 
writings of Mexico. The eminent Hugh Miller says: 
"The traditions of the flood may properly be regarded 
as universal, seeing there is scarcely any considerable 
race of men among which, in some of its forms, it is 
not to be found." There is no possible way of ac- 
counting for these traditions without admitting the 
facts concerning the great deluge. 

The Deluge was evidently a judgment sent by 
Jehovah upon the wicked Antediluvians. They had 
filled up their cup of iniquity. The imaginations of 



SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE. 239 

the thoughts of their hearts were evil continually. 
Every purpose of their hearts, and every scheme got- 
ten up by them, was of a malevolent character. In 
order to accomplish God's design in creating this 
world, it was necessary to destroy the wicked race. 
It must be remembered that the Deluge of Noah was 
for the specific purpose of destroying a wicked race, 
and not for the purpose of simply bathing the earth in 
water. God had no design in baptizing the mountains, 
except so far as it was necessary in order to destroy 
the wicked Antediluvians. As the earth must be 
again peopled, God selected the best of the race, that 
He might accomplish this. He thoroughly tested 
Noah, and found him to be a man of unwavering faith. 
The one hundred and twenty years of Noah's ministry 
was sufficient to reach all the rest of the Antediluvians, 
who were worthy of salvation. 

It has generally been taught that the entire earth 
was submerged by the great Flood so graphically de- 
scribed in Genesis. The skeptical scientists object on 
the ground: I. That the ark could not have accommo- 
dated a male and female of each of all the various 
species now living. 2. That all the animals could not, 
by their natural conditions, have lived in the same 
temperature for a whole year. In answer to these ob- 
jections, we wish positively to state that we can see no 
good reason for maintaining the universality of the 
Deluge, any further than the destruction of mankind. 
It was universal so far as this earth was peopled, and 
no further. Jehovah is a great economist, and does 
not use miraculous power unless it is absolutely neces- 
sary. The natural element alone is used in the Divine 
Administration when it is sufficient; but when it is 



240 POPULAR LECTURES. 

necessary, God puts forth miraculous power. If we 
concede that the Deluge was universal so far as the 
race was concerned, and not in reference to the entire 
globe, we are saved the necessity of supposing a num- 
ber of unrecorded miracles. We are safe in stating 
that this is now the position of some of the greatest 
Biblical scholars in the world. 

The position we have taken is in perfect harmony 
with Bible phraseology. The phrase, "all the earth," 
is frequently used, when only the land of Palestine is 
meant. We have the statement, "All countries came 
into Egypt to buy corn." It is, however, a fact that 
only those countries adjacent to Egypt are intended. 
There is always harmony between a correct under- 
standing of Nature and a fair interpretation of the 
Scriptures. 

Physical Geography and the Land of Palestine. 

When mankind for the second time had become 
almost universally corrupt, God selected Abraham and 
his descendants as the depositaries of divine truth, until 
the coming of the Messiah, v/ho was not only to be 
of the seed of Abraham, but also the exact image of 
God. The land of Palestine was promised to Abra- 
ham and to his posterity for an inheritance. The ene- 
mies of the Bible scoff at the idea that God either 
made choice of the land or promised it to the descend- 
ants of Abraham. They say that if God intended to 
select a country for a favorite people he could have 
found others more desirable than the rocky and iso- 
lated territory of the Canaanites. We believe that the 



SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE. 24I 

land of Canaan was the most proper country to have 
selected, for the following reasons : 

1. The Land of Canaan was in a central position 
in reference to the inhabited part of the earth. Jeru- 
salem was in the midst of the nations and countries 
around her. As the sun is in the midst of the solar 
system, in order to radiate his beams in all direc- 
tions, so it was proper that the Israelites, God's chosen 
people, be in the midst of the nations, in order to dis- 
seminate the light of truth in all directions. No other 
position could have been found so convenient for evaiv 
gelistic work in Asia, Europe and Africa. Repentance 
and remission of sins were preached in the name of 
Jesus among all nations, commencing at Jerusalem. 

2. Palestine was eminently fitted to be the birth- 
place of the Bible. The climate, natural scenery and 
productions of the country afforded the divine writers 
such illustrations as would be suitable to all the races 
of mankind. If the Sacred Book had been written on 
the banks of the Ganges or in Central Africa, it would 
have represented only a small portion of the interests 
and sympathies of the world's inhabitants. The ab- 
stract truths would have been the same, but the form 
of their clothing would have been very different. The 
diversity in soil, climate and occupation made Pales- 
tine cosmopolitan, so far as affording variety for illus 
tration is concerned. It was suited to the shepherd, 
to the mariner, to the husbandman and to the mer- 
chant. 

3. The physical characteristics of the land of Canaan 
were suitable for the development of a peculiar people 
such as God designed the Israelites to be. The phil- 
osophy of history clearly teaches that the climate and 



242 POPULAR LECTURES. 

geographical features of a country have much to do in 
determining the pursuits and character of its inhabit- 
ants. The Greeks, the Romans, the Britons and New 
England Puritans are illustrations of this. Palestine 
was not only calculated to develop strong physical 
peculiarities, but it was well suited to high intellectual, 
and especially to high moral achievements. 

4. The Bible teaches that the Israelites were to be 
a peculiar people and separate from the nations. In 
order to effect this, God selected the isolated land of 
Canaan for them. What other country would have 
been so suitable? This land was literally shut out 
from the rest of the world. On the north was Mt. 
Hermon, on the south the wilderness of Paran, on the 
east was the Assyrian desert and on the west was the 
almost harborless coast of the Mediterranean Sea. 

The physical geography of Canaan is a standing re- 
buke to the legendary theory of Renan and to the mythical 
theory of Strauss. Myths and legends do not attach 
themselves to definite localities, nor are they very par- 
ticular about fixing dates. But in the life of Christ we 
find constant allusions to specific times and circum- 
stances, to well-known cities and provinces, to kings 
and governors, to public and private persons, in short, 
just such things as we would naturally expect from a 
faithful and true historian. Active benevolence was 
the very spirit of Jesus Christ, and in order to accom- 
plish his benign work he traveled and taught all over 
Palestine. Many of his miracles, discourses and para- 
bles related by the evangelists are so involved in the 
very conditions and surrounding of the places where 
they took place, that a glance at the real scenes car- 
ries conviction to the honest mind, that the gospels 



SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE. 243 

are not myths or legends ; but the most real and cor- 
rect histories in the world. Jesus performed miracles 
and taught the people in his wonderful parables at 
definite places, which can be visited by the traveler at 
the present day. What he did was not done in a 
corner, but before the most suitable witnesses and at 
the most proper, places. After the resurrection of 
Jesus his apostles preached the gospel to every crea- 
ture, and the grand system of objective truth soon 
conquered the Roman world. No mythical or legend- 
ary system could ever have accomplished what the 
gospel of Christ has accomplished. 



GEOLOGY AND GENESIS. 

[Delivered in Paducah. Ky.] 

" And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, 
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
Sermons in stones, and good in everything." 

Shakespeare. 

The word geology is derived from two Greelc 
words, ge, the earth, and logos, a discourse, and it is 
defined as the history of the earth to the extent of 
knowledge afforded by its rocks and fossils. Some 
think that the geological record contradicts the Mosaic 
record, but I do not think that such is the case ; and 
I hope to be able to make the subject plain to others. 

In the geological record — 

God's will is impressed 
Upon the leaves of stone. 

In the Mosaic record — 

His will is expressed, 

And he calls the two his own. 

The Geological Record. 

The materials of the earth are so arranged that you 

can read its history almost as you do the pages of a 

printed book. One leaf is above another, as one page 

follows another, written, engraved and illustrated. 

There are six geological ages, and there are six days 

in Genesis ; and those who study carefully the two rec- 
244 



GEOLOGY AND GENESIS. 245 

ords, will be astonished in contemplating such a won- 
derful harmony. Such harmony does not exist between 
science and other ancient records. 

The first age in geology is called the Azoic Age. 
The word means without life, but life certainly extended 
farther back than many geologists are disposed to 
think. Dr. J. W. Dawson, of Montreal, Canada, dis- 
covered life as far back as the Laurentian period. Dr. 
Carpenter, of London, carefully examined this species 
under the microscope, and confirmed the discovery of 
Dr. Dawson. The first time I ever looked upon the 
Laurentian hills, I was deeply impressed with the 
majestic intelligence of the architect of this earth. 
How uncertain is the language of man, who calls the 
Western Continent the new world, when, in reality, it 
contains the first land raised from the bottom of the 
deep ! How long the Azoic Age continued we do not 
know, and it is probably that we never will. 

Just above the Azoic comes the Silurian Age. It 
is the first story of the building above the foundation. 
Of old, God laid of granite the foundation of the earth, 
and in the Silurian Age he commenced building upon 
the granite ; and we thus have the second page in the 
world's history. The rocks of this period are mostly 
slates, limestones and sandstones, and they are not 
thought to be less than thirty thousand feet in thick- 
ness. It is quite remarkable that of the many species 
that lived and died during that period, not even one of 
those that now swim the sea, or creep upon the land, 
can be identified with the species of the Silurian Ages. 

The next page in the wonderful book is the Devon- 
ian Age. In this age was formed the old red sandstone, 
which, in the State of New York, is fourteen thousand 



246 POPULAR LECTURES. 

feet thick. This was the age of fishes, and although 
there are thousands of species, we can safely say that 
but few, if any, can be identified with the species of 
the preceding period. This does not at all harmonize 
with the doctrine of transmutation of species. Another 
difficulty for that theory, just here, is the fact that the 
ganoids, or reptilian fishes, which are among the 
highest grade, were the earliest of fishes. 

We turn another leaf, and come to the great Car- 
boniferous Age. Then was formed and deposited the 
coal which now warms and lights our houses. Many 
times have I, in the city of Scranton, Pa., looked at 
the bright anthracite coal fires, and thought of the 
Great Designer, who formed the coal for man long be- 
fore his advent upon this planet. If others can not see 
an intelligent designer in all this, I thank God that in 
this particular, at least, he has given me ability to see 
what they do not see. 

The next formation above the carboniferous, is 
called the Reptilian Age, because during this period, 
the reptiles were as numerous as the plants had been 
during' the coal period. It is an admitted fact that 
during the Carboniferous Age there were no air-breath- 
ing animals, for the coal gas would certainly have killed 
them. Not a bird built its nest, or sang among the 
mighty trees How is it that we find life so abundant 
the very next age ? There is a mountain of coal be- 
tween it and Devonian life. I am of the opinion that the 
transmutation theory will have to be buried beneath 
the great coal-beds of the Carboniferous Age. There 
are no reptiles at the present time to be compared to 
the great reptiles of the Reptilian Age. Transmuta- 
tion has run in the wrong direction. In that age 



GEOLOGY AND GENESIS. 247 

there were flying lizards sixty feet long, and frogs 
larger than a modern ox. These great monsters de- 
voured their pre>, frolicked in the waters where now is 
the solid earth of the British Isles. If there had been 
transmutation from these species, I am of the opinion 
that some modern Darwinians would long since have 
emigrated. 

We now turn the last leaf of the geological record, 
and come to the Mammalian Age, to which age man 
also belongs. Before, however, man was introduced, 
some marvelous changes took place, and we can very 
properly place man in an age by himself. All the orders 
belonging to the Mammalian Age passed away before 
man's introduction on this beautiful earth. Amid some 
of the most terrific convulsions the animals of the Mam- 
malian Age perished, with as sudden a death as that 
of the savage monsters of the preceding age. The 
temperature seems to have fallen suddenly to a freezing 
point ; and some of the animals overtaken in the mud 
of Siberia, have been excavated, and the flesh was in 
such a perfect state of preservation that it was eagerly 
devoured by dogs. The masses of ice formed at that 
time among the Northern mountains will not melt until 
the end of time, and may some day fill the ice- 
houses of the world. What becomes of the transmu- 
tation theory in this the last geological age of the 
world ? According to Prof. Dana, the ox appeared in 
the Tertiary period before the monkey. 

We do not know the exact time when man was in- 
troduced into this world, but we do know that he is the 
terminus of vertebral life. All geological preparations 
and ideas converge in him. The world seems to have 
been designed to stimulate the thinking powers of man. 



248 POPULAR LECTURES. 

The beneficent design of God is seen in him who rep- 
resents the finality of infinite design. Man is the focus 
of geological history, and all vertebrate development 
finds in him the highest and consummating type. The 
chasm which separates the intelligence of man from 
the instinct of brutes is indeed broad, and one that can 
not be spanned without the intervention of God. Man 
is the only animal that worships, and he consequently 
has a relationship to God that the rest of mankind has 
not. In the language of a great geologist we may say : 
1 ' Geology, which is the story of the rocks, finds its 
climax in history, which is the story of man." A 
great English poet sings thus : 

"There rolls the deep where grew the tree; 
O earth, what changes thou hast seen ! 
There where the long street roars has been 
The stillness of the central sea." 

The Mosaic Record. 

In the beginning God created the heavens and the 
earth. No words that have ever been penned by man 
are more sublime than this language in the first chapter 
of the Bible. It condemns atheism, for it was God 
who created the heavens and the earth. It condemns 
pantheism, for the heavens and earth are not God, but 
were created by him. It condemns materialism, for 
material substances came from a substance not material. 
The things that are seen were not made of things that 
do appear. The Word was in the beginning, and by 
him God created all things. 

In Genesis we have two words for create, which 
are very similar in meaning, bahrah and ahsah. The 
first, however, appears to denote primary creation, in 



GEOLOGY AND GENESIS. 249 

contrast with the second, which denotes the arrang- 
ing of secondary material. We find the material of 
the earth at first in a chaotic state ; then darkness was 
upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God 
moved upon the face of the waters. Matter can not 
move itself, and it required the Spirit of God to move 
it. How long the chaotic period continued we are un- 
able to say. The first chapter of Genesis appears to be 
divided into two periods of three days each, both of the 
periods commencing with light. The first period rep 
resents the inorganic ; and the second, the organic 
world. The light of the first was cosmical ; that of 
the second was to direct days and seasons on the earth. 
Each period ends in a day of two great works. On 
the third day God divided the land from the water ; 
then he created vegetation, which was a work very dif- 
ferent. On the sixth day Jehovah created quadrupeds ; 
then he created man, which was the greatest work 
of all. 

The word day is used in three senses in the Bible. 
First, it denotes the light part of the period called 
day, in contrast with the dark part. Second, it de- 
notes both the light and dark parts of the day. The 
evening and the morning were the first day. Third, 
it denotes an indefinite period of time. The entire 
period of creation is called a .day, and we read of the 
day of the Son of man. This use of the word day 
was recognized by some of the Christian fathers long 
before the development of geological science. It does 
appear to me that any candid student of the geologi- 
cal and Mosaic records will not fail to see that it re- 
quired inspiration on the part of Moses to have given 
when he wrote such a faithful outline of geological 



250 POPULAR LECTURES 

science. While the Bible was not given for the special 1 
purpose of teaching science, it certainly does, when 
properly understood, harmonize with true science. 

Jehovah ! we place faith in thee 

Concerning things we can not see ; 

But into the light does nature grow, 

And the mysteries of the past we now can know : 

So may knowledge more and more increase 

And man from bondage find release ; 

As the Bible he studies and nature's laws, 

Which point to the same eternal cause. 

Conclusions. 

I. Geology and Genesis condemn the theories of 
spontaneous generation and the transmutation of 
species. Evolution is used in three senses: (i) In 
the sense of progress. (2) In the sense of growth. 
(3) It is made to include the agnostic and atheistic 
theories of spontaneous generation and the transmuta- 
tion of species. Darwin, Tyndall and Huxley admit 
that there is no foundation for the theory of spontane- 
ous generation. Mr. Darwin declared that spontane- 
ous generation was absolutely inconceivable ; and Dr. 
Carpenter, one of the highest authorities England has 
ever produced, pronounced it an astounding hypothe- 
sis. The great Tyndall says that the evidence offered 
in favor of spontaneous generation is vitiated by error. 

The theory of transmutation of species is an as- 
sumption as groundless as that of spontaneous gener- 
ation. The greatest advocates of evolution tell us; 
that the theory of transmutation of species can not 
be verified by observation and experiment, and with- 
out verification a theoretic conception is a mere fig- 
ment of the intellect. The philosopher Kant has said: 



GEOLOGY AND GENESIS. 25 I 

"Give me matter and I will explain the formation of 
the world ; but give me matter only, and I can not ex- 
plain the formation of a caterpillar." Darwin himself 
was not a good Darwinian, according to the agnostic 
and atheistic theories of evolution. 

I believe in evolution when it is used in the sense 
of progress. For example, there is progress from the 
canoe to the keel-boat, from the keel-boat to the sail- 
boat, and from the sail-boat to the steam-boat. It 
would, however, be the most consummate nonsense to 
talk of the transmutation of one into another. There 
is certainly gradual progress from one to another, but 
it is more the progress of mind than of matter. 

2. Scientific truth rightly understood is religious 
truth. The great world upon which we live is as much 
the work of God as is the Bible. A great naturalist 
can see God in every flower. We ought to study with 
great reverence God's will as it is impressed upon na- 
ture, as well as his will which is revealed in the Bible. 

3. Geology, as well as the Bible, teaches the benefi- 
cence of God. (1) God's beneficence is seen in the 
broken condition of the earth's crust. If this were not 
the case we would have no mountains, which are so 
essential to proper climatic conditions for human 
abode. (2) The soils of the earth are formed by the 
distintegration and composition of rocks; and in 
this way God has provided for the sustenance of life 
upon the earth. The teeming millions of human be- 
ings that now live upon the earth would soon perish if 
it were not for the productions of the soil. (3) Man's 
welfare upon this earth depends as much upon water 
as it does upon land. We see the beneficence of God 
in the distribution of water upon the globe. Some- 



252 POPULAR LECTURES. 

times we think that we have too much water, and at 
other times not enough. God knows best, and has 
arranged everything for our welfare. The man who 
studies God's word and works can not fail to become 
a better man, and as God has shown such beneficence 
toward us, sending rain upon the just and the unjust, 
we ought also to love him and love one another. 

Two college students once conversed about geology 
and Genesis. Thomas said to William, "I do not un- 
derstand it, and I believe I will give up the Bible and 
simply live for this world." William replied, "We 
learned from psychology that man has a spirit as well 
as a body. The wants of the spirit this world will not 
satisfy. My father, mother, and only sister have gone 
into the unseen world, and I believe that they live 
there. I would not give up my hope of meeting them 
again for all the fleeting pleasures of this world." 



THE SUN AND CHRISTIANTY. 

[Delivered in Lancaster, Ky] 
" And his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength " (John.) 

" One sun by day, by night ten thousand shine, 
And light us deep into the Deity ; 
How boundless in magnificence and might ! 
O what a confluence of etherial fires, 
From urns unnumbered down the steep of heaven 
Streams to a point, and centers in my sight ; 
Nor tarries there ; I feel it in my heart ; 
My heart at once it humbles and exalts, 
Lays it in dust, and calls it to the skies." 

Young. 

Human language is insufficient to literally express 
the beauty, majesty and glory of the Son of God; 
hence metaphors are used by the inspired writers to 
illustrate his character and work. The rock is used to 
represent his strength, a lion illustrates his power to 
save man from sin, the bright and morning star ex- 
hibits the loveliness of his character, and the sun very 
appropriately represents his ability to enlighten the 
world, shrouded in darkness. When John saw him in 
the Apocalyptic vision, he was as the strength of the 
shining sun. 

The prophet Malachi says: "Unto you that fear 
my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with 
healing in his wings." The Evangelical Isaiah antici- 
pated the rising of the glorious Sun in these beautiful 

253 



254 POPULAR LECTURES. 

words: "The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and 
kings to the brightness of thy rising." No symbol 
could more appropriately and significantly represent 
the mission of Jesus the Christ into this world than the 
sun, for it is the source of heat, light, life, and the cen- 
ter of attraction. It was the last type chosen by the 
prophets, and the whole realm of nature could not 
supply them with one more sublime. Just at the right 
time the aged and pious Simeon took the holy child, 
Jesus, up in his arms and said : ' ' Lord, now lettest thou 
thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen 
thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the face 
of all people ; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the 
glory of thy people Israel." John the Baptist de- 
clared that he was not this light, but that he came to 
bear witness of it, that all men, through Jesus Christ, 
might be saved. Jesus publicly acknowledged the 
appropriateness of the symbol, and declared: "I am 
the light of the world." 

As the sun is the source of heat to the whole sys- 
tem of nature, so Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, 
is the source of all spiritual vitality to the whole sys- 
tem of revealed religion. The world upon which we 
live derives all its heat from the sun, and all plants 
and animals depend for their existence upon the con- 
tinued flow of his warm rays. It is a general supposi- 
tion that our globe was once a molten mass, and that 
it finally so cooled as to form upon its surface a solid 
crust. It is believed that this cooling process con- 
tinues. The igneous character of primitive rocks and 
the spheroidal figure of the earth appear to favor this 
theory. If this theory be true, the fire in the center 
of our earth is no longer sensible upon the surface ; 



THE SUN AND CHRISTIANITY. 255 

so that it is strictly true that our world derives all its 
heat from the sun. The sunbeam is not only the 
bearer of light, but of heat also. This heat can be 
gathered by a concave mirror into a focus, so as to 
ignite solid material. In this way the philosopher 
Archimedes burned the Roman ships in the harbor of 
Syracuse, while the Romans were besieging his na- 
tive city. 

As the sun heats the earth, so Christ is the spir- 
itual vitality of the whole sphere of Bible truth. 
Without Him all would be cold and lifeless. Take 
Christ out of the Bible and we truly have the eclipse 
of faith. The atonement which he made upon the 
cross for man is the great procuring cause of man's 
redemption. Faith, that dynamic principle which 
moves man to action, centers in the Christ. What is 
the value of baptism ? It is of no value except as men 
are baptized into Christ. Its value is in the relation in 
which it places us to our Saviour. What is the benefit 
of the Lord's day and the Lord's supper? In the one 
we communicate His resurrection from among the 
dead, and in the other we remember our Lord's death 
until he comes again. Christ is also the life of all 
Christian graces and of all religious duties. He is 
the inspiration of all faith, hope and love. Christ and 
Christianity are identical. We can separate the Pla- 
tonic philosophy from Plato, and it still continues a 
system ; but we can not separate Christianity from 
Christ and continue its existence. Without him we 
can not do anything, for he is the quickening spirit of 
all Christian enterprise. He lives, thinks, and -acts in 
and through Christians. He guides and sustains the 
Christian in the deepest and sorest trials of his life. 



256 POPULAR LECTURES. 

We should never act without consulting our guiding 
Saviour. 

The heat given off by the sun is really prodigious. 
One of the most difficult problems of science is to as- 
certain how this enormous discharge of heat is kept up. 
It requires constant fuel to continue the fire. From 
whence comes the fuel ? The following theories have 
been proposed by specialists in science, viz. : the mete- 
oric theory, the friction theory, the cooling theory, the 
contraction theory, the combustion theory, the theory 
of electric excitation ; but none of these theories can ex- 
plain all the phenomena involved. The origin and 
permanence of the sun's heat we may, therefore, con- 
clude are inexplicable by any theory of science now 
known to man. The sun is the agent used by Jehovah 
to give life and vitality to our world. 

It is a fitting symbol of the vital warmth and love 
of God which flows to man through Christ, the Sun 
of Righteousness. We have no greater evidence of 
the benevolent agency of the sun's heat and air, land 
and sea, than we have of the love of Christ manifested 
toward fallen man. The love of Christ passes all un- 
derstanding, and it is incomprehensible as the heat of 
the shining sun. The life and suffering of Christ were 
entirely for the benefit of others, for they were not 
necessary to his happiness or essential to his glory. 
No man except Christ has ever been known to die for 
an enemy ; and the sacrifice of Christ can not be ex- 
plained from a human standpoint. 

The warm beams of the sun are the origin of all 
energy and motion in the material world. In 1876, 
when at the Centennial Exposition, in Philadelphia, 
we took much interest in the great Corliss engine, 



THE SUN AND CHRISTIANITY. 257 

which moved all the machinery in Machinery Hall. 
It occupied the center, and all the rest depended upon 
it. We admire the ingenuity of the man who would 
invent such a wonderful engine ; but much more do we 
admire the Creator of the sun, which sun moves the 
whole solar system. Without the sun our world would 
be as dark and silent as the grave. The sun's heat 
causes all the motions and currents of the atmosphere. 
As it is reflected from the surface of the earth, it ex- 
pands and renders the air lighter, so that it rises, and 
cold air rushes in to fill its place. These motions in 
the atmosphere are our winds, and they depend upon 
the heat of the sun. The sun's heat is also the cause 
of ocean currents. In the tropical regions, evapora- 
tion takes place so rapidly that the water is left salt 
and heavy ; but in the polar regions it is very slow, 
and this with the melting snow, causes the water to be 
very light; so the light water is constantly flowing to- 
ward the equator, and the heavy toward the poles, and 
we thus have ocean currents. The ocean, down to the 
very greatest depths, is kept in constant motion by 
the heat of the sun. All of this in order to preserve 
a proper equilibrium both on land and sea, so that 
man can live. 

The sun, which is the cause of all activity in the 
material world, is a beautiful emblem of the Sun of 
Righteousness, who causes all spiritual energy in the 
moral world. It is the religion of Christ which quick- 
ens into life the individual soul. God commands all 
men everywhere to repent and live a new life. 

Although the heat of the sun is designed for man's 
good, it sometimes becomes the occasion of destruc- 
tive whirlwinds and hurricanes. The army of Cambyses 



258 POPULAR LECTURES. 

was buried in the Lybian desert by a terrible storm, 
called a Simoon. Although we can not now fully un- 
derstand the benefits of the hurricane and tornado, we 
believe that God designs them for man's good. In 
1780, one of the West India islands was visited by a 
species of ant, which threatened the annihilation of the 
sugar-cane, and the inhabitants thought of leaving the 
island ; but God sent a tempest and swept the scourge 
entirely away. In the days of Moses God, by a storm, 
swept all the locusts into the sea. Christianity has 
been the occasion of some of the greatest wars and 
most violent persecutions in the world. It has been 
the occasion, but not the cause. A good rain is the 
cause of life and growth, but it may be the occasion of 
destruction. Christianity is the cause of love and 
peace, but has been the occasion of war and persecu- 
tion. As God makes the wrath of man to praise him, 
so persecution and war have frequently tended to ad- 
vance the interest of the Church of God. The sun is 
the source of light to the material world, and Christ 
the source of light to the spiritual world. 

All the worlds comprised in the system of creation, 
to which our world belongs, shine brightly in the 
heavens, but they shine by borrowed light. There is 
but one self-luminous body, and that is the sun. The 
wandering little nightly orbs, which guide many be- 
wildered travelers, shine by reflected light. These 
bright gems forever sing as they shine, "The hand 
that made us is divine." While they sing for the Sun 
of righteousness, their light comes from the great orb 
of day. We have in this a beautiful representation of 
Christ, the great teacher. He was no imitator, for 
never man taught as Jesus taught. The lessons which 



THE SUN AND CHRISTIANITY. 259 

he presented to the multitudes were not derived from 
any school of divinity, but they originated in his own 
divine mind. The doctrine which he taught, and the 
precepts which he inculcated, were not derived from 
Jewish tradition, or borrowed from Greek philosophy. 
He had never listened to the lectures of the lyceum, 
nor had he ever placed himself at the feet of a doctor 
of the law. He, at the age of twelve years, was too 
wise for the doctors, and from then until the com- 
mencement of his public ministry, he spent his time 
as a humble carpenter, preparing to build the city of 
God in the heavens. When Jesus taught old truths, 
he so recast them that they really became new. When 
they came from his lips they were as fresh and original 
as if never heard of before. He presented to the 
people on the mountain the very essence of the law. 
His lessons were perfect on anger, envy, hatred, mur- 
der, adultery, revenge, hypocrisy. The beautiful 
beatitudes teach exactly what a man should do in or- 
der to be superlatively happy. 

As the sun has no rivals in the heavens, so Christ 
has no rivals as a teacher. The sublime character of 
his instructions prove him to be the Son of God. 
Nicodemus, the Jewish doctor, came at night to con- 
verse with the teacher having, as he believed, a divine 
commission. On that lonely night, although exhausted 
by the work of the previous day, he taught the rabbi 
truths concerning the kingdom of God, which truths 
far surpassed anything ever heard of before, even by 
this learned man. Before leaving Jesus, Nicodemus 
received much light upon the spiritual character of the 
Messiah's kingdom. 

Jesus, who was the exact image of God's person, 



200 POPULAR LECTURES. 

gave the people a more perfect knowledge of the 
character of Jehovah. Men feared God, but they did 
not understand his parental character. God is love. 
This is the very essence of his character. We love 
God because he is altogether lovely, and we can call 
him our Father. Jesus brought life and immortality to 
light, and completely refuted those gloomy theories of 
the grave, which had so long pervaded the human 
mind. He taught the substantial character of the 
Spirit ; and declared it to be, in its nature, distinct 
from the body. "Fear not them," said Jesus, "who 
kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." This 
teaches that men may kill the body, but the soul is re- 
sponsible only at the bar of Jehovah. We may die at 
the hands of the persecutor, but to be absent from the 
body, is to be present with the Lord. 

Gur world is composed of many and divers substan- 
ces. We know nothing in it in an uncompounded 
state. Everything we handle is composed of different 
elements. A ray of light is, indeed, a marvelous thing. 
It is composed of seven colors. They are combined 
into pure, white light. They are called prismatic colors, 
because Sir Isaac Newton first separated light by the 
prism into its different colors. It requires just the 
seven colors for the rainbow ; and all the colors are es- 
sential, for if one is absent, the perfection of light is 
impaired. 

As the natural sun combines every shade of color, 
so the Son of God embraces the perfection of every 
Christian grace. In the study of man, we find none 
like Jesus. The worthies of the Old Covenant were 
quite perfect in some particular things, and very weak 
in others ; but Jesus was absolutely perfect in every re- 



THE SUN AND CHRISTIANITY. 26 1 

spect. His was the only perfect character in the form 
of man, and it can be studied in the pure light of 
heaven. Jesus stands alone in the history of the 
world, for he was entirely sinless. No man is perfect ; 
for all have sinned, and have come far short of the 
glory of God. 

The most infidel of writers have given us their tes- 
timony as to the spotlessness of the character of Jesus. 
Goethe, the most eminent of German writers, who was 
considered skeptical in his day, thus speaks of the 
moral character of the founder of Christianity : ' ' The 
human mind, no matter how much it may advance in 
intellectual culture and in the extent and depth of its 
knowledge of nature, will never transcend the light 
and moral culture of Christianity as it shines and glows 
in the person of its founder." 

Strauss, the learned German skeptic, has said : 
4 'Jesus represents, in the sphere of religion, the cul- 
mination point, beyond which posterity can never go ; 
yea, which it can not even equal. He remains the 
highest model of religion within the reach of our 
thought." 

The infidel, but brilliant Renan, pays the following 
beautiful tribute to the Christ of history: " Whatever 
may be the surprises of the future, Jesus will never be 
surpassed. His worship will grow young without 
ceasing ; his legends will call forth tears without end ; 
his suffering will melt the noblest hearts ; all ages will 
proclaim that among the sons of men there is none 
greater than Jesus." 

The sun is the center of the solar system, and 
Christ the center of the Christian system. The sun is 
the center and supreme ruler of a whole family of 



262 POPULAR LECTURES. 

worlds. They depend upon him for their position and 
movement in the great system of worlds to which they 
belong. Take the sun from the system, and the re- 
sult would be cold intense, and darkness profound. 
Evaporation would immediately cease, and the moisture 
already in the air would descend. The cold would 
soon become more intense than it is upon the highest 
peak of the Himalayas. It would soon congeal to the 
lowest depths all the great bodies of w r ater upon the 
face of the globe. Our world would soon be enwrapped 
in greater darkness than that which immediately pre- 
ceded the Adamic epoch. Take the sun from our sys- 
tem, and immediately every planet will forsake its 
orbit, and fly in a straight course in infinite space. 
The result would be the entire destruction of the solar 
system. It is very properly called the Solar System, 
because of its great dependence upon the sun. 

The sun is not more important to the unity, har- 
mony, and general welfare of the solar system, than 
Christ is to the entire system of revealed truth. He 
is the central orb of the whole Bible. In the early 
history of religion, this star is dimly seen at a great 
distance. These were types pointing to him in the re- 
motest antiquity. Even pious antediluvians gazed 
through the darkness at this twinkling star. Sacrifices 
and types pointed to the Lamb of God. As time 
passed on, God called a faithful man from among the 
Chaldeans, and promised him that of his posterity the 
Messiah should be born. While the other nations 
would go into idolatry, this nation was to preserve a 
knowledge of God until the coming of the Messiah. 
Before the coming of Christ, the gospel was preached 
in type and promise. During the personal ministry of 



THE SUN AND CHRISTIANITY. 263 

Jesus, the gospel was preached in truth ; and after 
his resurrection, it was preached in fact. We thus find 
Christ the center of the Bible. 

The sun is the center of gravitation in the solar 
system, and his effective force is felt by every world 
belonging to it. He attracts all, directly, according to 
the amount of matter, and inversely as the square of 
distance from the center. From this we learn that the 
nearer a body is to the sun, the more powerfully it is at- 
tracted. Some bodies are swept on by the sun into 
infinite space, beyond the comprehension of man. 
The force of attraction is so delicate that any diminution 
of the size of the sun would affect every world belonging 
to the great system. 

The love of Christ is as wonderful as is the attrac- 
tions of gravitation. It is the effective power which 
guarantees the safety of the Church of God. As its 
attractive force brings every planet to its proper posi- 
tion in the heavens, so the love of God causes every 
event in the history of the world to result in the ad- 
vancement of the Church of Christ. Any injury done 
to one of the planets, is felt by all the rest, and by the 
central sun ; so any offense to one of the least of the 
disciples of Christ, is felt by all the rest, and by Christ, 
the Head. We should be careful about offending one 
of these little ones. The attractive force of the sun 
carries all through space. The love of the Son of 
Righteousness is bearing us all away safely to our eter- 
nal home. It does not yet appear what we shall be ; 
but when Jesus comes, he will give us a better knowl- 
edge of the mansions which he is now fitting up for us. 

The sun is the great chemical center of our system. 
We not only derive our light and heat from him, but 



264 POPULAR LECTURES. 

also that actinic power which changes vegetation. The 
photographic art would be imposible if it were not for 
this wonderful power belonging to the beams of the 
sun. The actinic power of the sun varies with the 
seasons, for the great luminary just sends forth enough 
chemical power to accomplish his purpose with the 
animal and vegetable kingdoms. 

As the sun changes nature by his chemical power, 
so Christ changes man by the gospel. The gospel is 
God's power for the salvation of man. It is power 
just suited to the purpose for which God intended it. 
It is power which will reach all who do not shut them- 
selves away from its influence. In the mission of 
Christ God has not only given to man that which is 
essential to his conversion, but also everything essen- 
tial to his growth in grace and a knowledge of the 
completeness of the Saviour's character. 

The sun is the great magnetic center of the solar 
system, There are several reasons we can give for 
this position: I. The rays of the sun, under certain 
circumstances, render a bar of steel magnetic. 2. 
The oscillations of the compass-needle indicate this ; 
and, 3. There is a similarity between our auroral dis- 
plays and the prevalence or scarcity of the sun's spots. 
As all the worlds pertaining to our system are in 
magnetic sympathy with the sun, so all true believers 
are in loving sympathy with Christ, the Sun of Right- 
eousness. Chains of love have been let down from 
the heavens to all nations of the earth, and chords of 
love have been extended from these chains to every 
individual, so that all are drawn to Christ, the great 
center. The lifting of Jesus upon the cross was neces- 
sary, that he might draw all men unto him. There 



THE SUN AND CHRISTIANITY. 265 

is magnetic power in the cross of Christ, and it is the 
only thing that will ever bring harmony out of the 
present confused condition of the moral universe. Paul 
determined to preach nothing else to accomplish this 
grand purpose except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 
It is not surprising that the beloved disciple compares 
the strength of the Sun of Righteousness to the full 
strength of the shining sun. 



SCIENCE AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 

[Delivered at the Kentucky Christian Sunday-school Convention, Paris. Ky.] 

Science, which means classified knowledge, claims 
to understand the nature and effects of alcohol, which 
is the intoxicating principle in all fermented beverages. 
One of the greatest poets has said : 

" The proper study of mankind is man/' 

Long before this, one of the sages of Greece taught 
the importance of knowing self. The greater the 
knowledge a man has of himself the less apt he is to 
introduce into his system a poison which is ruinous to 
the highest elements of his nature. 

Physiology. 

The material part of man is constantly changing. 
It is claimed by the best physiologists that all the par- 
ticles of the body are changed every seven years. 
Physically speaking, there is a new man every seven 
years, and a new woman in less time than seven years. 
To supply the wants of the body it is necessary to in- 
troduce into it some life-giving elements. So a man 
places ashes on a corn hill, and they are turned into 
corn ; he then uses the corn for food, and it is changed 
into man. It is very necessary that the stomach 
which appropriates the food be kept in a healthy con- 
dition. It is composed of a delicate network of blood 
26C 



SCIENCE AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 267 

vessels, and anything that irritates these interferes with 
the digestion of food. It is not difficult to perceive 
the effects of alcohol upon these tender blood-vessels. 
Dr. Nott has shown the appearance of the stomach of 
a healthy man, of a moderate drinker, and of a drunk- 
ard. One view of these plates should satisfy the most 
incredulous. 

It is claimed by some that alcohol is a food. Ac- 
cording to Carpenter and Beale, the greatest of scient- 
ists, it does not contain any nitrogen or carbon ; nor 
is it an auxiliary food in any sense, for it can not take 
the place of salt or water. Does alcohol warm the 
system? The Kentucky farmers used to drink whisky 
in the winter to warm them, and in the summer to 
cool them. It is a little strange that it will have both 
effects. Alcohol -is now considered by scientists 
one of the greatest of refrigerators. Pour it on the 
hand, it will evaporate, and leave the hand cold. You 
can freeze a man to death in the month of August by 
pouring alcohol over him and permitting it to evapo- 
rate. 

What is the effect of alcohol upon the heart and 
circulation ? The heart is the most faithful member of 
the body. It throbs continually at the rate of one 
hundred thousand beats per day. The poet Holmes 
very beautifully describes this marvelous little engine : 

" No rest this throbbing slave may ask, 
Forever quivering o'er the task, 
While far and wide a crimson jet, 
Leaps forth to fill the woven net, 
Which in unnumbered crossing tides 
The flood of burning life divides, 
Then kindling each decaying part, 
Creeps back to find the throbbing heart." 



268 POPULAR LECTURES. 

Any intoxicating beverage causes the heart to beat 
more rapidly, and thus imposes upon it an additional 
burden. A constant repetition of this frequently re- 
sults in heart disease. The International Convention 
of Physicians, which met in Philadelphia a few years 
ago, decided that alcohol is never beneficial as a medi- 
cine except for a stimulant to the heart in certain dis- 
eases, and then it frequently admits of substitutes. 

Mental Physiology. 

Alcohol makes its greatest ravages upon the nerv- 
ous system and the brain. It excites the nervous 
system ; it causes muscular weakness ; then it 
reaches the stage of mental weakness. As the brain 
is the organ of the mind, whatever affects the brain 
must affect also the mind. It is now thought by the 
greatest students of mental physiology that all feeling 
and affection center in the brain. It robs the heart 
of much of its romance, but science is constantly do- 
ing this kind of work. The brain is composed of 
about eighty per cent, of water, seven of albumen, 
and a few other substances. It is the most unsubstan- 
tial looking organ of man, yet it is the instrument that 
rules the world. Holmes thus describes it : 

" Mark well the cloven sphere that holds 
All thoughts in its mysterious folds, 
That feel sensation's faintest thrill, 
And flashes forth the sovereign will ; 
Think of the stormy world that dwells 
In its din and clustering cells ; 
The lightning gleams of power it sheds 
Along its hollow, glassy threads." 

Dr. Richardson, who has given special attention to 
the study of alcohol from the scientific standpoint, 



SCIENCE AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 269 

claims that it hardens the albumen of the brain, which 
is the principal cause of dizziness on the part of the 
drunkard. If you put the white of an egg in alcohol, 
it immediately hardens it, which is a demonstration of 
the truth of this position. 

Mental Philosophy. 

Mental philosophy has tor its object the investiga- 
tion of the phenomena of mind. It does not claim to 
understand the essence of mind any better than the 
physicist understands the essence of matter. It does, 
however, claim to understand mental action, as well 
as the physicist understands the properties of matter. 
There is as much reality in that which thinks, reasons, 
feels, and wills, as there is in that which possesses 
magnitude, impenetrability, porosity and inertia. 

Alcohol takes from a man reason, and leaves him 
below the brute ; for he does not have instinct to guide 
him as does the lower animal. It is a terrible thing to 
take from a man reason, that God-given element 
which elevates him above the lower animal. Dr. Car- 
penter, in his Mental Physiology, makes the will the 
distinguishing characteristic between man and the 
lower animal. No one can question the fact that in- 
toxicating beverages destroy the will power in man. 

Moral Philosophy. 

The drunkard violates every duty mentioned in 
moral philosophy. He ignores the duties he owes to 
himself, to his family, to the community in which he 
lives, to the State, and to his God. It specially stimu- 
lates the lowest elements in his nature ; its attacks are 
always made upon the weakest point. If a man is 



270 POPULAR LECTURES. 

naturally a coward, you will see a full manifestation of 
it when he is drunk. The combative man is pre- 
pared for murder when under the influence of alcohol. 
The sensualist drinks in order to drown a guilty con- 
science, and to better prepare himself for his hellish 
work. If a man is disposed in the direction of silli 
ness, he is certain to let it out when he is drunk. 

There is another thing very peculiar about this 
deadly foe of mankind. It makes its most fearful rav- 
ages upon the greatest of mankind. Alexander, who 
conquered the world, was finally conquered by the in- 
toxicating cup. It is an admitted fact that men of the 
poetic temperament are more apt to become drunkards 
than those of other temperaments. Edgar A. Poe, 
Robert Burns and Lord Byron are illustrations of this 
fact. Science also teaches that alcohol produces a dis- 
ease known as oinomania. According to the law of 
initial heredity, this is transmitted to posterity. I saw 
a young man in a poor-house in Pennsylvania who was 
born drunk. His father and mother were both drunk- 
ards, and the disease was transmitted to him. 

Sociology. 

Sociology, which means a discourse about society, 
is rapidly becoming one of the most important of the 
sciences. There was a time when individualism was 
sacrificed to what was called governmental purposes. 
The science of sociology now condemns any govern- 
ment which is not the means of advancing the interest 
of society in general. It also condemns any custom 
which tends to the destruction of the individual. 

Custom bears about the same relation to society 
that habit bears to the individual. Man has been 



SCIENCE AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 2J \ 

called a bundle of habits ; and it is evident that man- 
kind act more from habit than from reflection. The 
automatic nerves are sometimes so influenced by habit 
that they get the better of the voluntary. The longer 
a habit is indulged in, the more force it gathers; so 
that it ultimately becomes irresistible. This teaches 
the importance of resisting all youthful lusts ; for the 
youth that sows to passion will in manhood reap his 
reward in a broken down constitution and wrecked 
life. Habit is a good thing when used in the service 
of God, but a very bad thing when used in the service 
of the devil. 

It has been said that custom makes law. That is 
true with many, but it is not right. The Chinese con- 
sider what we call a club-foot beautiful. We think it 
deformity, and Esthetics is on our side ; but the 
higher the rank of a Chinese woman the more custom 
cramps her feet. According to modern Greek custom, 
corpulence is considered beauty in woman. A young 
lady weighing three hundred pounds avoirdupois would 
be regarded as a belle in modern Greece. Instead of 
being satisfied with the golden mean in this country, 
we go to the opposite extreme, and think a cramped 
waist and pale face beautiful. These things teach us 
the tyrannical influence of false customs upon society. 
One of the greatest obstructions in the way of the sup- 
pression of the liquor traffic in this country, is the 
drinking customs of society. If there were no mod- 
erate drinkers there would not be any drunkards. The 
good of society certainly demands the abolition of the 
liquor traffic. 



272 POPULAR LECTURES. 

The Science of Government. 

Law is a rule of action. The rule of action must 
be laid down or prescribed by a superior, in order to 
have any science in it. There are many things called 
laws, which really are not laws in the true acceptation 
of the term law. The word science means classified 
knowledge, and in many things called laws that im- 
portant element entirely disappears. A rule of civil 
conduct, prescribed by the Legislature of a State, is 
called a municipal or positive law. Many legislative 
enactments are altogether destitute of the scientific ele- 
ment. Upon many five minutes of solid thought has 
not been bestowed. Knowledge is power, and more of 
it is greatly needed in our legislative halls. 

A nation is an association of individuals for mutual 
protection and benefit, and the object of civil govern- 
ment is to secure these ends. A true government con- 
sists of a body of men who govern not for their own 
aggrandizement, but for the benefit of the governed. 
The ends of government are beautifully expressed in 
the preamble to the Constitution of the United States. 
They are: (1) To form a more perfect union. Any- 
thing in the way of this perfect union should be pro- 
hibited. (2) To insure domestic tranquility. This is 
so important to a State, that great watchfulness should 
be exercised to prevent anything from getting in the 
way of this grand feature of governmental science. 
(3) To provide for the common defense. Some of the 
greatest nations of the world have been unable to do 
this, because of the drunkenness and debauchery of 
their subjects. Rome could not resist the incursions 
of Northern barbarians, who had not debauched them- 



SCIENCE AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 273 

selves with the luxury and refinement of the provinces. 
Why will a nation retain the very things which will 
ultimate in its ruin? (4) To promote the general wel- 
fare. The general welfare of the country should be 
supreme, in the minds of the State and National Rep- 
resentatives. We need more of the spirit of the 
fathers of this nation, men who would sacrifice even 
self when necessary to promote the nation's welfare. 
(5) To insure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and 
transmit the same to posterity. Many of the leading 
men, on election days, have no conception of liberty. 
They are the slaves of a morbid appetite and of inex- 
orable custom. Instead of transmitting the blessings 
of liberty to posterity, they transmit tendencies which 
are perfectly disastrous. 

What can we say of the United States, the model 
nation of the world? Have the principles contained 
in the preamble to the Constitution been carried out? 
Far from it. The greatest curse of the nation, and 
that which contradicts every principle of the Constitu- 
tion, namely, the manufacture and sale of intoxicating 
drinks as a beverage, is sanctioned by the national 
government. When America was first settled, the 
only nation in Europe where distilled spirits was in gen- 
eral use, was Ireland. The English and Germans 
drank ale and beer; the French and Italians, wine; 
but in Ireland "aqua vitce " had already become a na- 
tional curse. The mania for intoxicating beverages 
rapidly increased, and whole tribes of Indians were de- 
stroyed by the fire-water. In the United States, at 
present, more than seven hundred millions of dollars 
are annually expended for intoxicating drinks. It is 
not surprising that so many families suffer every win- 



274 POPULAR LECTURES. 

ter for want of proper food and raiment. The people, 
instead of protecting themselves, and enjoying the 
proper beverages of life, are really killing themselves 
with a liquid poison. 

No right-minded person can question the deleterious 
effects of the liquor traffic upon national prosperity. 
It is pronounced by all thoughtful persons the greatest 
curse in the land. It is a deadlier plague than any of 
those which ravaged ancient Egypt, and it is much more 
fatal to life than the one which slew the first-born sons 
of the Egyptians. The science of politics teaches us 
to enforce what is just, and promote what is beneficial. 
True legal science and political philosophy must pro- 
hibit the liquor traffic. 

I must confess that I can see no remedy for the 
liquor curse except in Prohibition. The traffic is a 
nuisance, and I do not see how any one can question 
the right or duty of the State to remove such nuis- 
ances. I challenge any one to find a greater public 
evil in the land than intemperance. War is an evil. 
In the great rebellion more than six hundred thousand 
men fell ; but the war has long since ended, and its 
consequences are fast passing away. Not so with the 
whiskey war against humanity. Every year several 
hundred thousand perish ; but new ones are being con- 
tinually added to the list. This war on the lives and 
souls of men does not cease. They that feed the fire 
of death must be responsible for the flame. From 
top to bottom the traffic is temptation and seduction 
incarnate. It does more evil in this beautiful land of 
liberty than everything else combined. Let us then, 
by Prohibition, check the advance of the monster. 

Some are opposed to Prohibition because the liquor 



SCIENCE AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 275 

traffic affords a revenue for the government. There 
never was a greater hypocrisy in this world. The 
abolition of the liquor traffic would result in the in- 
creased prosperity of the country in various way. It 
would save much of the cost of taking care of pau- 
pers, of punishing crime ; and it would add much to 
the labor interest of the country by the reclamation of 
drunkards, and the prevention of others becoming 
drunkards. Says one, the government can not stand 
without the revenue from whisky. If it can not, there 
is something wrong with the government. As well 
as I love my country, I would prefer seeing the whole 
superstructure fall than have it stand upon such a rot- 
ten foundation. Do not talk of revenue from the de- 
mon which robs the legal and medical professions, and 
even the ministry, of some of their brightest orna- 
ments. I now have in my mind some of the greatest 
poets and the greatest statesmen that fell victims to the 
accursed traffic. 

Prohibition does not interfere with individual rights. 
It prescribes no bill of fare for the people ; it has no 
sumptuary measure for the regulation of mankind ; it 
gives no directions to physicians with regard to the 
diatetic treatment of their patients. We simply ask 
for wholesome laws for the protection of mankind. 
We want laws that will lock the public chest, and seal 
it with a magic seal, so that every effort to interfere 
with the interests of society will be unavailing. 

The object of law is the protection of society, and 
when civil government does not do this, it is a failure. 
When we take into consideration the baneful effect of 
the liquor traffic, it is not unreasonable to ask for a 
law which will squelch the cause of the effects we all 



276 POPULAR LECTURES. 

deplore. The drunkard is a tax and a nuisance to* 
sober men ; he and his family have to be supported by 
them. We demand^ a prohibitory law, which will say 
that no man shall sell another that which will deprive 
his mind of reason and his heart of feeling. 

Dr. Lewis, the originator of the Woman's Cru- 
sade, has evidently been the most able opposer of 
Prohibition in this country. He wrote a book, "Pro- 
hibition a Failure," and in it maintained the following 
propositions : 

1. That Prohibition fails to make a proper distinc- 
tion between vice and crime. 

2. That it has been a failure. 

3. That it interferes with personal liberty. 

Dr. Lewis was certainly an ingenious reasoner; 
but his arguments on this subject are perfectly falla- 
cious throughout. He claims that an act, in order to 
constitute a crime, must be committed with evil intent, 
and without the consent of the victim. Without these 
elements, they may be vices ; but, according to his 
reasoning, they can not be crimes. While crimes 
should be punished by law, he insists that vices must 
be treated only by reason and persuasion. 

There can be no arbitrary distinction between 
vice and crime. That which was not looked upon 
as even a vice fifty years ago, may now be considered 
a crime ; and it may be prohibited by law. As pub- 
lic opinion becomes better educated, the law must be- 
come more rigid against evil-doers. Dr. Lewis defines 
vice as harm done to self in a mistaken pursuit of 
happiness. Then the young man, who fell down and 
broke his nose on his return from a visit to his in- 
tended, was guilty of vice. We prefer Worcester's- 






SCIENCE AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 277 

definition, that vice is a violation of the moral law. 
Webster says that vice is ' ' A moral fault or failing • 
.•especially in moral conduct or habit." Webster de- 
fines crime as " Any violation of law, either human or 
Divine." The word crime is from the Latin crimen, 
and it must mean that which is committed in violation 
of law. Dr. Lewis says: " Crime is a harm done 
to another with malice prepense, and without the con- 
sent of the victim." If a wagon runs over a man and 
breaks his leg, and a doctor is called to set it ; if he 
makes a mistake and his patient is injured (whatever 
his intentions may have been), he can be prosecuted 
for malpractice. If that act is committed by the con- 
sent of the victim, then, according to Dr. Lewis, it is 
not a crime. Then the vile seducer, who ruins his 
victim, is not, according to this doctrine, a criminal. 
According to this position, we would have to blot 
from the list of crimes and the domain of law, prosti- 
tution, adultery, gambling. The seducer and gambler 
would be left to practice their base vices upon all 
whose consent they could obtain. 

Dr. Lewis claims that Prohibition has been a fail- 
ure. It is evident that if such had been the case, the 
liquor dealers would not be so bitter against it. They 
would favor it, and oppose license, if they thought it 
would be to their advantage. No one can question 
the fact that where Prohibition has been adopted, it 
has been as successful as other laws of like character. 
The best laws will be evaded and violated ; but noth- 
ing can justify society in licensing crime. The liquor 
traffic is a positive curse to the individual, and it is 
always injurious to society ; so the only remedy is its 
absolute prohibition as a beverage. He also claims 



2?8 POPULAR LECTURES. 

that Prohibition interferes with personal liberty. The 
science of sociology clearly teaches that there can be 
no conflict between the good of society and the liberty 
of the individual. Society existed before we were 
born ; and our personal liberties are in perfect har- 
mony with our duties to society. The old doctrine 
that man sacrifices certain rights for the good of so- 
ciety, is false. It is no sacrifice of individual rights 
for a man to perform his duties to society ; for that 
which benefits society will also benefit him as a part of 
the social structure. It is an admitted fact that the 
liquor traffic is a curse to society, and that its evil 
effects may be transmitted to posterity. It is certain, 
then, that those who desire liberty for man, woman 
and child, must be Prohibitionists. 

Does the Bible harmonize with science on the ques- 
tion of the liquor traffic ? I think it does, for the fol- 
lowing reasons : 

1. It condemns drunkenness, and definitely states 
that no drunkard can inherit the kingdom of God (I. 
Cor. vi. 10). 

2. The Bible never recommends for use as a bev- 
erage fermented wine. I think that I am perfectly 
safe in stating that the wines recommended in the 
Bible were practically unintoxicating. After the wine 
had fermented and would intoxicate, it is condemned, 
at least as a beverage. Solomon, the wisest of men, 
saw something in wine, when it was red, very injuri- 
ous to those that drink it; for on account of it's effects, 
he ascribed to it personal qualities. He says: "Wine 
is a mocker, strong drink is raging ; and whosoever is 
deceived thereby is not wise" (Prov. xx. i). Those 
acquainted with the history of wine, know that the 



SCIENCE AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 279 

persons who drink it, do exactly the things here as- 
cribed to the wine. Fermented wine bites and stings 
(Prov. xxiii. 31, 32). At the last it biteth like a ser- 
pent, and stingeth like an adder. The word used for 
serpent is the same as that used for the fiery serpents 
in the wilderness (Num. xxi. 6). It pierces the 
drinker as would an adder. If you do not doubt the 
poisonous character of the fiery serpents, and the poi- 
son imparted by the adder's sting, how can you doubt 
the poisonous character of intoxicating beverages ? 
It is certain that no man who uses intoxicating drinks 
as a beverage is himself. He gives up his manhood, 
and substitutes in its place that which is worse than a 
vicious beast. Some boys on Staten Island con- 
structed a machine which they called the whizzer, and 
a number of them got crippled with it. The devil has 
constructed many whizzers, and many men and boys, 
and sometimes even women, get crippled with them. 
Beware of Satan's whizzers. 

" We hear until our hearts are dumb 
Of all the ruin wrought by rum . 
Men plead in prayer, and speech, and song, 
Against this endless, world-wide wrong, 
While from ten thousand wretched homes 
A ceaseless wail of sorrow comes, 
While husbands, fathers, children, wives 
Weep o'er dishonored, blighted lives, 
Or gather round the homeless graves, 
Where lie entombed rum's ruined slaves — 
A sad funereal, endless train, 
Who mourn their dead as doubly slain. 
O thou who rulest over all 
And hearest whene'er thy children call ! 
Come to our rescue ; Father, come, 
And stay this blighting curse of rum." 



280 POPULAR LECTURES. 

3. The Bible teaches Prohibition (Hab. ii. 16). 
The bottle, by a figure of rhetoric, is used for that 
which the bottle contains. It is something upon 
which a curse rests, and it should not be given to 
another. The lips represent the affections, and they 
should ever be kept pure. The young lady who said, 
' 'The lips that touch wine, shall never touch mine," 
was entirely right. Liquor-poisoned lips should never 
be permitted to touch the pure virgin lips of the fair 
daughters of this country. Phrenologists claim that the 
corners of the lips represent parental affection ; the 
part next the corners friendship, and the central part a 
love for the opposite sex ; so the mothers kiss their 
children with the corners of the lips ; friends kiss with 
the part next the corners, and lovers kiss square in the 
mouth. 

The prophet pronounces a woe and terrible curse 
upon those who put the bottle to their neighbors and 
make them drunk. The address of the prophet has 
reference to that class of men who make their neigh- 
bors drunk. It applies to our modern saloon-keepers. 
As in ancient times, so in modern, liquor venders gave 
their neighbors drink ; they put the bottle to them and 
made them drunk. The drink merchants in that age 
prosecuted their business in the same way as those of the 
present. They put the bottle, gave the drink, and 
Judeawas filled with drunkards. This is the testimony 
of Jewish history, and it is our own history. Let drink- 
selling and bottle-putting cease, and drunkenness will 
cease also. 

What should be done with a traffic which is con- 
demned by both science and the Bible ? The rational 
answer must necessarily be, prohibit it. Mr. Barnum 



SCIENCE AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 28 1 

claims that he can pay all the taxes of the city of Phila- 
delphia and make several millions of dollars annually, 
if the city will give him the amount paid by her citi- 
zens for intoxicating drinks. The brother-loving city 
is rapidly becoming a whisky-loving city. Would it 
not be economy on the part of this great city to abol- 
ish the liquor traffic? We try to be reasonable on all 
subjects ; but must confess that we can not see how a 
civilized State can license crime. If it is wrong to 
license murder, is it not wrong to license the cause of 
murder ? If it is wrong to license theft, is it not also 
wrong to license the prolific cause of theft? There is 
certainly no remedy for this liquor evil except in Pro- 
hibition. 



THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCE OF THE 
MIND AND THE BODY. 

[Delivered in Paducah, Ky., and published in The Phrenological Journal, 

New York.] 

" There is not a natural action of the body, whether involuntary or 
voluntary, that may not be influenced by the peculiar state of the mind at 
the time." John Hunter. 

The mind is a conscious entity, which can exist 
independent of the body ; but its influence over the 
body is very great, because the body is simply an or- 
ganism through which the mind manifests itself. The 
connection of the mind with the body is so close that 
it is difficult to tell where it commences and where it 
ends. The extent and nature of this connection can 
only be known by the kind of observation and 
reasoning by which we become acquainted with the 
outer world. We can see their form only as we see 
the form of things in the external world ; we can not 
feel, nor can we see their structure. We can only arrive 
at it by obscure and difficult research. The most dis- 
tant objects in the universe are more accessible to our 
observation, and in many respects more intelligible to 
our understanding, than the material house in which 
we dwell. There is a tendency, on the part of man, 
to look beyond self, and fail to know himself. We 
presume to scan the whole universe of outward being 
before we spend much time in studying self closely 

and systematically. Man discovered the movements 

282 



MIND AND BODY RECIPROCAL. 283 

of the planets long before he discovered the circula- 
tion of his own blood. Yet the current of the blood 
is so much a part of himself that, when it stops, his 
thoughts cease. 

The relation of the mind to the body appears to be 
closest in those mental operations, in which no appa- 
rent movements of the body are concerned. In the 
exercise of pure reasoning the mind appears to act 
almost independent of the body. By an effort of the 
will we direct our attention to new objects, and in al- 
most the twinkling of an eye we pursue new trains of 
thought. 

The mind, it is evident, controls all parts of the 
body, which are under the influence of the will. 
When we walk, talk, touch the string of a harp, or 
the keys of an organ, it is done primarily by the act 
of the mind displaying itself through the bodily or- 
gans. As the mind has such influence over the body 
in health we must conclude that it also greatly influ- 
ences it in disease. A person may be very hungry, 
receive a sad message, and be unable to eat at all. It 
is the influence of the mind over the bodily organs 
that for a time suspends the appetite. I knew a young 
lady who was almost a complete invalid, and as soon 
as she became a Christian her health returned. We 
did not consider it miraculous, nor did she have to 
visit a modern faith-cure establishment. The great 
London physician was entirely scientific when he told 
the young French nobleman that Jesus Christ was the 
physician he needed. The young man's mind was dis- 
turbed about eternity, and this affected his body. 

It is admitted by all that excessive mental labor is 
opposed to the cure of nervous diseases. Dr. Ben- 



284 POPULAR LECTURES. 

nett, of Scotland, claims that predominant ideas make 
their impress upon the body in disease. If that be 
true, all ideas have their effects upon the body and 
upon the character of man. The Bible is scientific in 
its claims, that man will be judged for his words and 
deeds. It is so important that we control our thoughts, 
for we remember that every bad thought makes an 
impression upon our very being that it may be difficult 
to have erased. Every good thought is a step in the 
direction of .heaven, or, in other words, of refinement 
and breadth of character. 

The mind acts upon the body through its threefold 
states of intellect, sensibilities and will. The intellect 
may excite sensations, or it may suspend them alto- 
gether. The celebrated John Hunter says: "I am 
confident that I can fix my attention to any part until 
I have a sensation in that part." I am not yet old 
enough to wear glasses, but think of the time when I 
may ; and, at this moment, have a sensation on the nose 
where the spectacles would naturally rest. The influ- 
ence of the intellect upon sensation will account for 
the visions of Martin Luther. On one occasion, Lu- 
ther was engaged in prayer in his chamber ; and, while 
he was contemplating the sufferings and death of 
Christ, there suddenly appeared on the wall a vision of 
Christ, with his wounds, looking down upon him. As 
Christ appears to us only in his word, Luther attributed 
the vision to a juggling of the devil. Science now 
explains that which was mysterious to the great Ger- 
man reformer. There are some persons who imagine 
they see all that they think, and this is a very danger- 
ous condition. Their imaginations become, to them, 
revelations, and they are sometimes substituted for 



MIND AND BODY RECIPROCAL. 28$ 

even the Bible itself. They are simply examples of 
automatic cerebral action excited by ideas vividly pres- 
ent in the mind. 

The great influence of attention upon the sensory 
ganglia is shown in the ability to recall a visual im- 
pression after a long interval of time. Sir Isaac New- 
ton says that he once looked at the sun for a short 
time in a mirror. He then went into a dark room, 
and by thought could have the spectrum return. By 
concentrating his fancy upon them he could have the 
light and colors as vivid as when he had just looked at 
the sun. Finally he had to shut himself up in a dark 
room to divert his imagination from the sun ; for if he 
thought of him, the image would return, although he 
was in the dark. Erasmus once visited Sir Thomas 
More, who was a firm believer in the real presence in 
the Lord's Supper. More tried to convert his friend 
to his belief, and assured him that he would be con- 
vinced of its truth by unquestionable evidence. 

Erasmus, on leaving the house of More, borrowed 
his pony, and, being well pleased with it, did not re- 
turn it, but sent the following lines : 

" Should you tire walking, 
This hot, summer tide, 
Believe your staff 's dobbin, 
And straightway you '11 ride.' 

It is an axiom in science that every part of the 
body sympathizes with the mind, for whatever affects 
the mind affects also the body. St. Francis d'Assisi, 
one day when exhausted by fasting and prayer, im- 
agined that God ordered him to open the Bible, that 
he might therein learn his will. The book was opened 



286 POPULAR LECTURES. 

three times, and every time at a description of Christ 
suffering. The pious monk regarded this as a sign 
that he should realize the Saviour's sufferings more 
vividly than he ever had before. He carried this so 
far that he suffered pain in his hands and feet, which 
resulted in inflammation, and finally in ulceration. 

Emotion and will produce a wonderful influence 
upon the corporeal organization. A person may be 
very hungry, and receive intelligence which renders 
him unable to eat at all. A man may have an impor- 
tant speech to prepare, which causes fasting some time 
before its delivery. An old woman, who was caught 
one night stealing fuel, said to the man who caught 
her: "Heaven grant that you may never know again 
the blessing of being warm." The man complained 
of cold the next day, which got worse and worse un- 
til he died. Science fully recognizes the influence of 
grief in blanching the hair. The dark hair of the 
beautiful queen of France became white in one night. 
Deadly fear outwent time, and blanched at once her 
hair. The human will is the highest element of the 
mind. It is in the image of God, and free, because 
God is free. The influence of the will upon the body 
is very great, because it influences all the other ele- 
ments of the mind, and they also influence the body. 
The proper cultivation of the human will is the most 
important thing in life, both to the body and to the 
spirit. 

That the influence of the mind upon the body in 
the cure of disease is very great can not at all be ques- 
tioned. It is evident that psychopathy, as well as 
physical remedies, should be employed in the cure of 
disease. A little more attention to science will allav 



MIND AND BODY RECIPROCAL. 287 

the wild enthusiasm manifested in some parts of the 
country with regard to faith cure establishments. The 
medical profession also would be more successful if 
greater attention was given to the study of the mind 
and its relation to the body. 

We have spoken of the mind's influence upon the 
body, and now wish to say a few words about the in- 
fluence of the body upon the mind. God made man 
in his own image. This applies to the body as well as 
to the mind. "So God created man in his own 
image — in the image of God created he him ; male and 
female created he them " (Gen. i. 27). There is nothing 
else in the universe so much like God as man is. 
Christ did not take the nature of angels, but he became 
a descendant of Abraham. The time will come when 
the saints will judge angels. The body of man was 
made out of material previously created. Nearly 
every nation has a tradition that its first inhabitants 
sprang from the soil. The Greeks call themselves 
autochthones, from a belief that they were born of the 
soil of the land they inhabited. 

In Gen. ii., which is an amplification of the first 
chapter, we learn that man is a compound being, con- 
sisting of body and spirit (Gen. xi. 7). From analysis 
we learn that the body is composed of sixteen mate- 
rial elements, eight of which are metallic, and eight 
non-metallic. The metallic are aluminum, calcium, 
copper, magnesium, manganese, potassium, sodium 
and iron ; and the non-metallic are carbon, nitrogen, 
oxygen, chlorine, phosphorus, sulphur and silicium. 
Traces of a few others have lately been discovered. 
This was the most perfect machinery ever made. It 
was not, however, until God breathed into it the breath 



288 POPULAR LECTURES. 

of life that man became a living being. The Hebrew 
word for life, in Gen. ii. 7, is hayyiym, from the verb 
to live; it is in the plural number, and should be 
translated "lives" instead of life. This takes a prop 
from under the edifice of materialism. 

The body is the house in which the mind dwells. 
When the house wears out or is destroyed, the inhabi- 
tant must necessarily leave it. Any injury to the 
house will for a time affect its dweller. It is not diffi- 
cult to understand why a vigorous mind requires for 
its home a strong body. The mind intimately sympa- 
thizes with every change in the body. The condition 
of the stomach and the action of the heart affect the 
attention, the comprehension and the memory. A 
change in the structure and functions of the brain in* 
duces insanity, which, indeed, is a very helpless and 
deplorable condition. 

From the wonderful influence of the body upon the 
mind, the following arguments have been deduced in 
favor of materialism : 

1. That we know the mind only as connected with 
a material organism. The activities and phenomena 
of the mind are exerted through the body, and we 
only know the mind as connected with a material 
structure. 

2. The powers and capacities of the mind are de- 
veloped along with those of the body. As the lower 
organs of the body are the first developed, so the 
lower powers of the mind are the first unfolded. 

3. All our knowledge chronologically comes from 
sensation ; so the mind is dependent upon the body 
for much of its knowledge and many of its enjoy- 
ments. 



MIND AND BODY RECIPROCAL. 289 

4. Our first acquired ideas all have reference to 
sensible objects. From these facts the materialist 
concludes that the mind is only a culmination of a 
series of material existences. 

To the above we must add the following facts, and 
then I think we can safely reach a conclusion : 

(1.) The phenomena of the mind are in kind unlike 
the phenomena of the body. Extension and impene- 
trability are the essential properties of matter ; while 
thought, feeling and volition are the essential attributes 
and characteristics of the mind. 

(2.) While our knowledge is chronologically devel- 
oped by sensation, those are primary principles which 
logically exist in the mind previous to this develop- 
ment. 

The maxim Nihil in intellectu quod non prius in sensu, 
is not strictly correct. There are some things in the 
intellect not in sensation ; for there are ideas and emo- 
tions derived from man's moral nature. 

(3.) The mind is self-active. The brain is its organ, 
and through this instrument it communicates itself to 
the world. Every mental action uses up some brain 
tissue, and there has to be a new supply. While the 
brain is the organ of the mind, the brain is material, 
and matter can not move itself. The mind must 
therefore be impelled to action by its own energy. 

(4.) The mind distinguishes itself from the brain. 
There were some ancient philosophers who claimed 
that the world created God instead of having been 
created by him. Analogous to this is the doctrine of 
modern materialism, which teaches that the brain is 
not the instrument of the mind, but a machine which 
produces the mind. The most eminent of Greek phi- 



29O POPULAR LECTURES. 

losophers clearly distinguished between the mind and 
the organ through which it acts ; and we by self-con- 
sciousness can certainly do the same thing. The artist 
is conscious that he forms in his mind a picture before 
he places it upon the canvas. There is a great distinc- 
tion between the musician and the instrument upon 
which he plays. Not even a Beethoven could play 
well upon a poor organ ; nor can the mind act well 
when it has a poor brain upon which to play. 



THE REAL, OR SUBSTANTIAL, IN THE 

FORCES OF NATURE AND IN THE 

SPIRITUAL WORLD. 

[Delivered in Fort Worth, Texas.] 

We have always believed that a true philosophy is 
in perfect harmony with the Bible. It is a relic of 
heathenism to maintain that a thing can be theologi- 
cally true and philosophically false. A true philoso- 
phy can in no «sense conflict with a pure religion. 
There has been so much skepticism connected with 
the different theories of the past, that religious people 
are inclined to reject every system of philosophy. 
There have been in the past true philosophers that 
occupied the golden mean between extremes, and I 
think that such also live at the present time. There 
is, however, a tendency to deny the reality of every- 
thing except matter, and to make the spiritual world 
simply a myth. Christian philosophers have long 
maintained that there is spiritual substance as well as 
material substance. Dr. McCosh, in "The Divine 
Government," makes a distinction between material 
and immaterial substance. The expression, Spiritual 
Substance, is found on page 335. Dr. Hall, of New 
York, is, however, the first to emphasize the fact that 
there is something substantial in the forces, of nature. 
I agree with Dr. Deems, Joseph Cook, Dr. O. A. 
Burgess, and many others, that there is much truth in 

the position of Dr. Hall. I like Huxley's Physiology, 

291 



2p2 POPULAR LECTURES. 

and believe nearly everything he says ; but I still be- 
lieve that man has a spirit as well as a body. So I 
believe that Prof. Tyndall's experiments in the main 
are correct ; but, notwithstanding that fact, I am sat- 
isfied that the forces of nature are something more 
than simply wave motion. I will try to make this 
plain before I conclude this lecture. 

Some insist that Dr. Hall has simply revived the 
old Newtonian theory of light. In that they are mis- 
taken, for I spent a week with Dr. Hall, and I know 
that his position differs entirely from that of Newton. 
In the seventeenth century so much had been learned 
about the behavior of light, that philosophers began to 
inquire about the nature of light itself. The question, 
What is light ? is not as easily answered as some might 
suppose. Although it is by the means of light that 
we see everything, light itself is invisible. The sun- 
beam, which you think you see shining through a 
crack in the window-shutter, is only particles of dust, 
so acted on by light that they shine, and thus become 
visible. We look to the shining of the moon which is only 
reflected from the sun. Although the light must exist 
at the place where we see the moon, it is invisible, unless 
reflected by the little satellite. Newton believed light 
to be invisible particles of matter. He tried to calcu- 
late how small these particles could be and not injure 
the eye. 

Christian Huygens, a Dutch astronomer, suggested 
the wave theory of light ; and Newton, who believed 
in the same theory of sound, could not well reject it. 
As Huygens insisted that light is a vibration, it is evi- 
dent that there must be something between us and the 
sun to vibrate. To meet this difficulty, he had to sup- 



THE REAL, OR SUBSTANTIAL. 293 

pose space filled with a jelly-like substance, called 
luminiferous ether. He had to suppose that substance 
sufficiently fine to pass between the atoms of even 
solid bodies, and that the sun and other luminous 
bodies caused it to vibrate, so that its undulations 
strike upon our eyes, and give rise to the sensation of 
light. This theory has entirely too many suppositions, 
and it fails to account for all the phenomena of light. 
This jelly-like material substance, striking upon the 
eyes, would be as likely to put them out as would the 
material particles of Newton's emission theory. This 
luminiferous ether has been shown, in "Christian 
Thought," to be one of the fictions of science. 

I will now direct your attention to the argument 
from analogy. It amounts almost to demonstration. 
The word analogy is derived from the Greek ana, 
equally; and logos, speech, or reason. It denotes a 
parallelism between things which, in some respects, 
differ. When the difference is small, and the resem- 
blance very great, the argument from analogy ap- 
proaches the strength of a valid induction. This 
method of reasoning is very impressive, and its value 
is universally acknowledged. "Butler's Analogy," 
one of the greatest works in the English language, is 
a demonstration of this fact. 

God has given man at least five senses by which 
to become acquainted with things external. No one 
of these senses should be studied without direct ana- 
logical reference to the others. In every case it is 
necessary to distinguish between sensation itself and 
the object which excites the sensation. Some writers 
have been very reckless along this line, and have not 
given proper attention to definition. The organ of 



294 POPULAR LECTURES. 

smell, and the smell of a rose, are different things. 
The act of inhaling the odor is not synonymous with 
the odor inhaled. The act of smell, apart from cer- 
tain physiological questions connected with it, is famil- 
iar to all. The character of the odor itself is not so 
well understood. It is admitted by all to be a kind of 
effluvium emanating from the odorous body, and coming 
in contact with the nervous organism. Dr. Carpenter 
claims that odor consists of particles of extreme min- 
uteness, dissolved in the air, and mostly volatile ; yet 
he admits that the most delicate experiments have 
failed to discover any diminution of weight in musk, 
and other similar substances by the odorous emissions. 
But whatever these odorous emanations may be, it is 
admitted by the most eminent scientific authorities 
that they are substantial objects of smell, which is a 
refined modification of touch. The atmosphere is only 
the vehicle by which the object is brought in contact 
with the olfactory nerve. 

The principal characteristics of the sense of smell 
are also common to those of taste. God has given 
man the organ of taste, and something substantial to 
satisfy the demands of this organ. The sapid sub- 
stances, which are emitted from the body, are brought 
in contact with the nervous organism, and excite the 
sense of taste. It would not be possible to satisfy the 
taste with anything unsubstantial. In fact, we are so 
organized that we do not wish to deal with the unsub- 
stantial. We expect the substantial in this life and the 
life to come. 

Many of the characteristics of smell, taste, and 
touch also belong to hearing and seeing. All the 
senses are, in fact, a modification of touch. In seeing 



I 



THE REAL, OR SUBSTANTIAL. 295 

and hearing, as in taste and smell, we must distinguish 
between the organ of sensation and that which excites 
it. In touch, taste and smell, it is universally ac- 
knowledged that the objects which excite these sensa- 
tions are substantial. If that be true, why is there not 
also something real in light and sound, which are like- 
wise objects of sensation ? As all are modifications of 
touch, if part are substantial, it does appear to me 
that analogy requires us to conclude that the others are 
also substantial. The experiments of Tyndall and 
other physicists prove to my mind that there is some- 
thing real in the forces of nature. In fact, there can 
be no motion without something to move. 

I will now, at some length, call your attention to 
one of the forces of nature which has been a special 
study with me for several years. It is that wonderful 
force called Magnetism. There is an old story, that a 
shepherd once laid down his crook by a stone, and 
when he lifted it up it stuck fast to the rock. This is 
doubtless a legend, but it is quite certain that the 
Greeks and most of the ancient nations knew that the 
loadstone attracted iron. A piece of loadstone is called 
a magnet, from the Greek word magnes, because it is 
supposed first to have been found at Magnesia, in Asia 
Minor. A piece of iron, rubbed on a loadstone, be 
comes itself a magnet, and it will attract other pieces 
of iron. A peculiarity in a piece of magnetized iron, 
led Gioja to his inventing the mariner's compass. He 
learned that a magnet, when suspended by a string, 
would always turn so that one end would point to the 
North and the other to the South. He then tried the 
following experiment, which proved a complete suc- 
cess : He placed a magnetized needle upon a round 



296 POPULAR LECTURES. 

card marked North, South, East, West ; he fastened 
the card to a piece of cork, and floated it in a basin of 
water. Whichever way he turned the basin, the needle 
turned the card, and pointed North and South. Thus 
was invented the mariner's compass. 

There has been much dispute as to who first in- 
vented the compass, for it was certainly known to the 
Chinese in early times. It is generally agreed, how- 
ever, that Gioja invented it independently, and that 
he was the first to make practical use of it a naviga- 
tion. It was a great invention, and did much to ad- 
vance modern civilization. In early times, sailors were 
guided entirely by the stars ; as these lights could not 
always be seen, they had to keep near the shore. The 
compass has entirely obviated this difficulty, and now 
they can sail the roughest seas, and when in a storm it 
is better to be far away from land than near it. The 
briny deep is now literally covered with ships, and the 
commerce of the nations is carried to the most distant 
parts of the earth. Christian nations have reached na- 
tions that were for centuries entirely isolated. God has 
thus providently prepared the way for the evangeliza- 
tion of the world. 

The loadstone is a brown mass, and in general ap- 
pearance does not differ much from the rude masses 
around it ; but, when tested, it has power to draw par- 
ticles of iron toward it. A magnet, whether artificial or 
the original stone, when placed upon a pane of glass and 
iron filing thrown around it, draws these filings in regular 
and beautiful curves. They are especially drawn to each 
end of the magnet, for magnetic force is not equally dis- 
tributed to all parts of the magnet, but is found concen- 
trated chiefly at the ends. The law of the attraction 



THE REAL, OR SUBSTANTIAL. 297 

and repulsion of the magnet is, that like poles repel, 
and unlike attract. The special cause of this, I pre- 
sume, is known alone to the Infinite Mind. 

A bar of steel can become magnetized by rubbing 
it with loadstone, and in other ways. Magnetism does 
not appear to be transferred, but simply induced or 
developed by the loadstone. A loadstone can be used 
in making many magnets, and it does not lose any of 
its original force. We may break a magnet, and we 
will then have two magnets, each with its positive and 
negative poles. Whatever may be the nature of the 
wonderful force, it is almost universal in the kingdom 
of nature. Prof. Hunt says that there is no substance 
in nature to be found independent of magnetic power. 
It, however, influences bodies in different ways — some 
it attracts, and others it repels. There are magnetic 
bodies, and dia- magnetic; while the magnetic arrange 
themselves along the line of magnetic force, the dia- 
magnetic place themselves at right angles to this 
line. Every substance in nature is thought to be in 
one or the other of these conditions. Its directive 
power is apparent in every particle of ore, and it formed 
the beautiful crystal. Magnetic phenomena are not 
limited to the inorganic world, but extend also to the 
organic. The leaf, the flower, the fruit of a tree, the 
flesh, bone, and blood of the animal, and even gases 
and vapors, are affected by an all-pervading magnetism. 
The poet thus expresses it : 

" That power which, like a potent spirit, guides 
The sea- wide wanderers over distant tides, 
Inspiring confidence where 'er they roam, 
By indicating still the pathway home ■ 



298 POPULAR LECTURES. 

Through nature, quickened by the solar beam, 
Invests each atom with a force supreme, 
Directs the caverned crystal in its birth, 
And frames the mightiest mountains of the earth ; 
Each leaf and flower by its strong law restrains, 
And man, the monarch, binds in iron chains." 

The nature of magnetism is not generally under- 
stood. Some regard it as a mode of molecular mo- 
tion ; but molecular motion is a fiction in science, and 
more difficult to understand than magnetism itself. 
There is a close re'ationship between magnetism and 
electricity, but magnetism differs from electricity in 
the fact that it produces no direct effect upon our 
senses. We only know its effects by the way it moves 
certain other bodies. 

It is now quite well established that the sun is a 
great magnet, and that the earth is in constant mag- 
netic sympathy with him. It is certainly natural to 
seek the origin of magnetism in the sun, the source of 
all living activity. There are a number of reasons to 
be given for this position : 

1. When 3. bar of steel is exposed a sufficient 
length of time to the sun's rays, it is rendered mag- 
netic. It is not possible to account for this phenome- 
non on any other hypothesis than that the sun is a 
great magnet. It must be that magnetism is substan- 
tial, or it would not influence a body the immense dis- 
tance of the sun from the earth. If according to the 
position of some scientists, the forces of nature are 
simply nothing, it is a burlesque upon logic to talk of 
the influence one body has upon another millions of 
miles away. 

2. The compass needle shows daily oscillations 



THE REAL, OR SUBSTANTIAL. 299 

which shows a tendency to turn towards the sun 
wherever he may be. When the sun is in the east the 
needle has a slight oscillation in that direction, and 
when the great luminary is in the west the needle turns 
westward. When we add to this the fact that the vi- 
bration is increased in the summer and diminished in 
the winter, it makes it very certain that the needle 
tries to turn towards the sun. The effect of the sun 
upon the compass needle is very decisive proof of the 
fact that the sun is a great magnet. 

3. The energy with which the needle seeks its 
place of rest is inversely as the square of the earth's 
distance from the sun. It thus harmonizes with the 
other great forces of nature — gravitation, heat and 
light. These great forces of nature are really God's 
messengers sent out to accomplish His will in the 
great material universe. They are as real and possi- 
bly as immaterial as His great agents sent out into the 
spiritual universe. 

4. The vibrations of the needle correspond with 
the spots upon the sun. Among the first things dis- 
covered by the telescope were black spots upon the 
sun. These spots are not permanent, but come and 
go ; and they have a special relationship to the vibra- 
tions of the compass needle. About every eleven 
years the needle is subject to very violent disturbances, 
which are closely related to the spots upon the sun. 
This is another good reason for believing that the earth 
is in magnetic sympathy with the sun. 

5. The Aurora Borealis is now thought to be of 
magnetic origin, and is greatest when the spots upon 
the sun are most numerous. The Auroral displays are 
seldom seen at all when the sun is free from spots. 



300 POPULAR LECTURES 

These lights always being in the North, and the com- 
pass needle always pointing towards the North, are 
positive evidence that the earth is a magnet, and the 
relation of the Auroral displays to the sun-spots makes 
it very evident that the earth is under the magnetic 
influence of the sun. 

6. Magnetic storms are always accompanied by 
great displays of the Aurora, and they are most fre- 
quent when the sun is most spotted, and seldom occur 
when he has but few spots. On the 1st of Septem- 
ber, 1859, remarkable spots were exhibited on the 
face of the sun, and astronomers saw near one of the 
great spots a cloud of light sweep rapidly over the 
face of the sun. A magnetic storm was at that time 
in progress, and the earth was convulsed with electro- 
magnetism. These things occurring at the same time, 
entirely convinced observers that the earth and sun 
are in perfect magnetic sympathy ; and that so far as 
our system is concerned the sun is as much the center 
of magnetism as he is the center of light, heat and 
gravitation. 

A careful study of magnetism has convinced me 
that it is one of the immaterial forces of nature. 
I believe it is generally admitted that no material sub- 
stance can pass through platinum or glass ; yet these 
substances are no bar to magnetism. A magnet may 
be corked and sealed in one bottle ; iron filings may 
be placed in the same way in another, yet the magnet 
will attract the iron. This experiment teaches us that 
magnetism has a very close relationship to the spir- 
itual. May it not yet be the means of solving the 
difficult problem of the relation of the spiritual to the 
material world ? 



THE REAL, OR SUBSTANTIAL. 301 

The Bible clearly teaches us that there is some- 
thing real or substantial in the unseen world. When 
Goci created man, He breathed into him a portion of 
His own spiritual essence ; and man became a living 
being, possessing animal, intellectual and spiritual life. 
Man is a duplex being, one man living in another man. 
The outward man we can see ; but we can not see the 
inward man. The inward man, however, is more 
substantial than the outward ; for though the outward 
man perishes, the inward man is renewed day by day. 
Man can kill the outward man, but he can not kill the 
inward, or soul. Jesus teaches us not to fear him who 
can kill the body, but can not kill the soul ; but, 
rather, to fear Him who has power to destroy both 
soul and body in hell. 

The apostle Paul recognizes the substantial in the 
things not seen. He teaches that the seen things are 
temporal ; while the unseen things are eternal. We 
are, therefore, to look, not to the things that are seen, 
but to the things that are not seen. This language 
looks paradoxical, but it is not, for the same God who 
has given us outward eyes to behold outward things, 
has, also, given us inward eyes, by which we can per- 
ceive things spiritual and eternal. We can look, with 
these inward eyes, to that which is most substan- 
tial and durable. The truly substantial is something 
more enduring than flesh, than sky or air, earth or sea. 

In this world the most substantial and enduring 
things are those which we can not see. Oxygen, hy- 
drogen, nitrogen and all simple forms will ever remain 
pure and incorruptible ; for we can not think of the 
annihilation of the ultimate forms of matter. If the 
skeptic wishes the eternal, he must cling to the unseen, 



302 POPULAR LECTURES 

even in Nature. The apostle is perfectly scientific 
when he declares the unseen things to be eternal. 

The stronger our convictions become with regard 
to things not seen, the less real the present becomes ; 
and the unseen becomes more of a Positivism. Men 
have been so much in the habit of calling the future 
state unreal because spiritual, and unsubstantial be- 
cause invisible, that the people now look upon future 
existence as a kind of dream-land. The reason why 
the character of Christ has so written itself upon the 
face of civilization, is the fact that its chief element 
was his faith in God and the future state. Christianity 
places man upon a border-land, with two natures 
capable of inhabiting two worlds. The margin be- 
tween them is indeed very narrow ; it is like the colors 
of the rainbow — we can not tell where one ceases and 
another begins. The body is conditioned and confined 
to this world ; but the mind may live in the other. 
It may long for a better home than this world can give, 
and desire to depart and be with Christ. 

Our Saviour promised his disciples that he would 
go and prepare a substantial home for them. Its loca- 
tion was to be in a magnificent city, ornamented with 
the most costly and beautiful jewels. The house 
would contain many mansions, suited to the wants and 
capacities of all. Paul knew that God had prepared 
such a building for His people ; and he was ready for 
the present tabernacle to be taken down at any time. 
Man's future home will be substantial ; the body in 
which he will live will be spiritual and incorruptible, 
and his environment will be suited to the highest de- 
velopment of all his faculties. 



THE SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY AND CHRIS- 
TIANITY. 

[Published in Christian Thought.] 

The Philosophy of Athens is the most perfect of 
all her monuments. The most perfect gems of her 
art are in ruins. Only a few fragments remain of the 
work of the immortal Phidias. A few fragments are 
all that can now be found of the magnificent statuary 
that once crowned the Acropolis. But the philosophy 
-of Athens has been the wonder of all succeeding ages. 
It may be safely doubted if modern philosophy has 
made any advancement beyond that reached by the 
ancient Greeks. It is quite certain that in solving the 
great problem of human life, the position of the Socra- 
tic school is more reasonable than that of many 
modern philosophers. The Socratic school insisted 
that life came from God ; but the modern Darwinian 
school tries to derive it from insensate matter. 

Previous to the advent of the great Socrates, there 
were two opposite tendencies in Greek philosophy. 
In fact, these tendencies have existed among all nations 
that had any philosophy at all. The Ionian school was 
sensational in its tendency, and the Italian school was 
idealistic. The first philosopher of the realistic school 
was the celebrated Thales, of Miletus, who was born 
six hundred years before Christ. The great problem 
with him was the origin of things. What fundamental 

•element is there in nature from which all things have 

303 



304 POPULAR LECTURES. 

come? With Thales, the fundamental element was 
water. Anaximander, his disciple, called it chaotic 
matter. His successor, Anaximenes, concluded that 
the infinite substance was air ; and Heraclitus, of 
Ephesus, declared it to be fire. While the first school 
of Geeek philosophy was materialistic in its tendencies, 
it did not go so far as the modern materialist. It cer- 
tainly recognized something beyond matter. If Thales 
had been a mere materialist, he could not have used 
the following language : "Of all things the oldest is 
God ; the most beautiful is the world ; the swiftest is 
thought; the wisest is time." Many modern philoso- 
phers might learn something from even the infant school 
of Greek thought. 

Pythagoras was the earliest and most conspicuous 
philosopher of the Italian school. He was born at 
Samos, 584 b. c, and was contemporary with Thales, 
of the realistic school. He taught the unity of God: 
that he was not outside of the world, however, but in it, 
superintending the beginning of all things and their 
various combinations. As the first school had dwelt 
upon the simple phenomena of nature as perceived by 
the senses, this school goes a little further, and dwells 
upon the relations of phenomena cognized by thought 
alone. When material phenomena are the exclusive ob- 
jects of thought, philosophy tends to sensationalism; so 
likewise when their relations are the exclusive object of 
thought, philosophy tends to idealistic abstraction. 
The two tendencies are clearly visible in the pre-Socratic 
schools, and produce the skepticism which was almost 
universal in Greece when Socrates made his appearance. 
The same one-sided positions are taken by many lead- 
ing philosophers of the present age ; and when you 



SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY. 305 

hear one of these specialists lecture, you are impressed 
with the idea that he thinks all truth is comprehended 
within the narrow limits of his horizon. Prof. Huxley, 
in his writings on education, instead of taking the whole 
circle of sciences, cuts the circle, thus making his sys- 
tem a semi-circle. He almost entirely ignores the high- 
est elements of a true education. 

At the completion of the first epoch of philosophy 
when the thinkers of Greece, in despair, went into 
skepticism, Socrates appeared upon the stage. He 
was born near Athens, 469 b. c, and was the son of 
Soproniscus, a sculptor. He followed for a time the oc- 
cupation of his father, and tradition claims that he pro- 
duced some interesting works. His personal appear- 
ance was decidedly against him. It is said that he had 
a flat nose, thick lips, prominent eyes, and a bald head. 
He had, however, a powerful constitution, and trained 
himself to great endurance. While a soldier he won 
the admiration of all; for there was none more brave 
and self-sacrificing than was he. He loved his country, 
and when it became necessary he was ready to fight 
for it. 

There was no other man in Athens who understood 
politics so well as did Socrates, yet he did not seek 
political preferment. He was totally unselfish, and 
simply desired to teach the Athenians those principles 
absolutely essential to the walfare of the State. He 
knew that no country could prosper where men were 
ignorant and selfish ; so he became a teacher, in order 
to develop the highest elements in the men of Athens. 
There are certain high elements in human nature, 
which, if brought out, will make society prosper ; but 
if, on the other hand, the lower elements control, they 



306 POPULAR LECTURES 

will lead any State into anarchy and ruin. Socrates 
was anxious that the Athenian Republic should be 
built upon knowledge ; and if his advice had been taken, 
it might have assumed a permanency, and not have 
been subjected to those evil tendencies which soon 
proved its ruin. 

This great teacher was nearly always able to see 
the golden mean between extremes, and it was not 
difficult for him to see the anarchical tendency of an 
extreme democracy, such as was the Athenian. While 
he labored to counteract this dangerous tendency, he 
certainly was also opposed to absolutism. This ideal 
was not far from what we have realized in the Amer- 
ican republic. While the American constitution is an 
inheritance of the past, it certainly embodies the 
grandest principles taught by the most eminent phil- 
osophers of the world. The system of morals which 
Socrates thought essential for a State, would afford a 
valuable study for even the eminent statesmen of our 
own country. 

It appears strange that the Athenians should con- 
demn to death the man who had been their greatest 
friend. Such, however, has been the history of the 
world. The nations have not usually appreciated 
their greatest benefactors. There is no business more 
thankless than that of the critic. Men do not like to be 
told their faults, especially when they do not intend to 
forsake them. Persons engaged in the liquor business 
usually dislike temperance men. Socrates was pre- 
eminently a critic. There was not an evil in Athens 
about which he did not have something to say. As 
the Jews became tired of the teaching of Jesus of 
Nazareth, so the Athenians became tired of their 



SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY. 2>°7 

preacher of righteousness. They were determined to 
silence him some way, and they thought the certain 
way would be to put him to death. 

Socrates produced an era in philosophy. He saw 
i:he evil tendencies in the preceding schools, and was 
anxious to make his system more practical. He 
thought that man and society were the proper objects 
of study. Like Dr. Johnson, he was not an admirer 
of external nature, and thought that all wheat-fields 
looked alike. He preferred to give his time to the 
study of man. He created ethical science, and his 
teachings in that department have seemed marvelous 
to even the greatest thinkers of modern times. 

Socrates had invincible iaith in truth ; he made her 
-the mistress of his soul, and patiently toiled after per- 
fect communion with her. He felt, as did Jesus, that 
truth alone would give freedom. On one occasion, 
when he came in conflict with the public authorities, 
his language was almost identical with that used by 
Peter and John when forbidden to preach by the San- 
hedrim : " Whether it be right in the sight of the gods 
to hearken unto you rather than to the gods, judge ye ; 
but as for me, I have sworn to obey the laws, and I can 
not forswear myself. " This great Greek philosopher 
felt that he had a divine mission, and that nothing 
should get in the way of it. The faithful monitor, 
which he called the Daemon, was evidently the voice 
of conscience. He felt that it was a divine voice, 
and always heeded its warnings. It would be well for 
the world if all men would listen to the words of cau- 
tion which that monitor that God has placed in the 
bosom of each is constantly sending forth. This great 
Greek moralist was eminently a religious man. He 



308 POPULAR LECTURES. 

taught that we can only know God in his works, thus 
recognizing the doctrine of divine providence. His 
religion was strictly humanitarian, as he declared the 
well-being of man to be the end of the universe. He 
loved to study final causes, and gave to them more at- 
tention than to efficient causes. While he did not deny 
inferior deities, he looked upon them very much as we 
look upon angels — as infinitely below the Supreme Be- 
ing. I believe that Socrates was a monotheist, but he 
did not entirely ignore the polytheism of his day. 

Socrates may not have held to the doctrine of ideas, 
as taught by Plato ; but he certainly believed that there 
were certain principles latent in the human mind 
which constitute the ground of certain knowledge o{ 
absolute truth. These were embyronate in the womb 
of reason, and by reflection could be brought to a 
birth. That is the reason why he adopted the method 
of teaching which he so successfully used. His object 
was not so much to impart knowledge as to develop 
those elements already in the mind. He sought to 
deliver the mind of secret truth, which already lay in 
its constitution, and thus psychology became the basis 
of all knowledge. 

The German philosopher, Schleiermacher, claims 
that Socrates did not benefit the world so much by 
what he taugnt as by his method of teaching. He 
applied the same method to the study of mind and 
human nature that Bacon afterwards applied to phys- 
ical science. It was the inductive method applied to- 
the facts of consciousness. What is induction ? It is 
the process of discovering causes from effects, being 
from phenomena, and laws from facts. He did this 
by observing and classifying the facts of consciousness. 



SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY. 3O9 

He applied analysis to the phenomena of mind. Aris- 
totle claimed that Socrates was the author of inductive 
reasoning and abstract definition. It is, then, a mistake 
to suppose that induction is a method invented by mod- 
ern science. It has been used to some extent by all 
men who have reasoned at all ; and it was employed 
by Socrates in as thoroughly scientific a way as it is 
now employed by any scientist. 

Those who study the life and teachings of Socrates, 
will be struck with the likeness, in many respects, to 
the life of Jesus of Nazareth, and the almost perfect 
harmony between the Socratic philosophy and Chris- 
tianity. It is not surprising that the contemporaries 
of the Greek philosopher claimed that he brought phil- 
osophy down from heaven. Socrates was a public 
teacher, as was Jesus, and he spent his time simply 
for the good of others. He was true to his principles 
to the last, and died the death of a martyr. While I 
believe that he was providentially a forerunner of 
Jesus, we can not account for the life of Christ on the 
same principles upon which we can account for the life 
of Socrates. Socrates was certainly a very superior 
man, but Jesus of Nazareth was more than a man. 
While Socrates died the death of a martyr, Jesus died 
the death of a God. 

In comparing Jesus to Socrates, He towers above 
even the great Greek as a mountain towers above the 
sea. The work of Socrates was local, while that of 
Jesus was universal. The influence of the teachings 
of Jesus upon the world, compared with the Socratic 
philosophy, shows the infinite superiority of Christian- 
ity. When we consider the circumstances surround- 
ing the two teachers, we are overwhelmed with the 



310 POPULAR LECTURES. 

superhuman character of Jesus. Socrates did not 
commence teaching philosophy until middle life. He 
had spent his time in preparation. Jesus, without any 
preparation, commenced at thirty years of age. Soc- 
rates taught nearly forty years, and Jesus taught only 
three years and a half. Socrates lived in the most in- 
tellectual city in the world, and visited the great cen- 
ters of culture. Jesus lived in a despised town, and 
among an illiterate people ; yet His teachings were so 
perfect that they needed no revision. He made no- 
mistakes, and even His enemies could not find a flaw in 
either His life or teachings. His ideals for the spiritual 
elevation of man were certainly beyond the power of 
the greatest genius to invent. It was a long time be- 
fore even His own disciples could understand the spir- 
itual and universal character of His kingdom. 

The Christian fathers have almost universally 
taught that the Socratic philosophy was a preparation 
for Christianity. Socrates taught that religious duties 
are three : reverence, gratitude, and obedience. 
Where these things were taught the people could not 
be otherwise than better prepared for Christianity. 
The tendency of the Socratic philosophy was to free 
the mind from polytheistic notions, and bring before 
it prominently the theistic idea. While Socrates did 
not definitely reject polytheism, the tendency of his 
philosophy was to undermine it. He recognized be- 
yond its gods one Supreme Being, and when the people 
learned to worship Him, they would gradually give up 
the worship of inferior divinities. While others among 
the Greeks, even before Socrates, believed in one Su- 
preme Being, the tendency of the Socratic philosophy 
was to spiritualize the theistic conception. He not 



SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY. 311 

only taught that there is one God, but that God is 
spirit. Obedience to God, who is spirit, he also 
taught, and this purified the moral sense, and prepared 
the Greeks for something better. 

The Socratic philosophy very definitely taught a 
future life, which was an important preparation for 
Christianity. Just before his death, the great philoso- 
pher conversed with his friends on the subject of a fut- 
ure state. Crito asked him how he wanted to be 
buried. The philosopher told him any way he liked, 
if he could only get hold of him. He then turned to 
the friends and said: "I can not persuade this good 
Crito that I who am talking to him, and marshalling 
the heads of my arguments, am the veritable Socrates ; 
but he persists in thinking that Socrates is this body 
which he will see by and by stretched out on the floor, 
and he asks how he is to bury me." Socrates insisted 
that after his death he would leave them and go to the 
land of the blest. The fact can not be questioned 
that man has an instinctive anticipation of a future 
state ; and Socrates studied the inward man so thor- 
oughly as to be well satisfied on that point. The resig- 
nation of Socrates at the hour of death is an interest- 
ing subject for reflection for even those who live in the 
light of a high Christian civilization. In its teaching 
on the future state, the Socratic philosophy was an 
important preparation for Christianity. Christ, how- 
ever, brought life and immortality to light by the re- 
demption of the body as well as the spirit. 



THE SKEPTICAL TENDENCIES OF PHILOS- 
OPHY. 

[Delivered at Graduation in the Classical Course of the College of the Bible, 
Lexington, Ky., June 8, 1880.] 

Men of the most powerful intellects among the 
ancients were originally called Sophists, but when they 
were in the zenith of their glory, one appeared who 
was less pretentious, and who assumed the name phil- 
osopher, i. e. t a lover of wisdom instead of a sophist, 
which means a wise man. 

We have had a change in name, but I doubt very- 
much the change in character. The greater part of 
those whom we call the philosophers of the past would 
more properly be termed sophists, if we name them 
according to their conception of themselves. 

The sophist imagined that he possessed superior 
mental acuteness. Self he regarded as the standard of 
perfection. This, of course, prepared him to reject a 
revelation from God ; for he looked upon his own 
commanding intellect as sufficient to investigate the 
past, scrutinize the present, and determine the future. 
This has been the repulsive aspect of the physicists. 
They have become too wise in their own conceit. 
Enraptured by their speculations, they have persist- 
ently ignored all evidence beyond the senses. 

You may think it strange that I speak of philoso- 
phy as having a skeptical tendency ; but when we ex- 
amine carefully its history, we find that it has 



SKEPTICAL TENDENCIES OF PHILOSOPHY. 313 

frequently been allied to infidelity. Philosophy has 
exalted a false reason above a true faith. When reve- 
lation made known things that did not exactly agree 
with the opinion of philosophers, they laid these things 
aside as simply untrue. What was this except infi- 
delity? Man rejected what God revealed. 

In the early history of the race, philosophy and 
religion were united. They did not separate until the 
time of Thales, the first Greek philosopher. With 
him properly commences the history of philosophy. 

It is said that the Jews never were a philosophical 
people. Schwegler mentions but one Jewish name in 
his history of philosophy — Spinoza, an apostate Jew 
of Amsterdam. It must, however, be admitted that 
Moses, the Hebrew lawgiver and historian, was in the 
highest sense a philosopher: for he solved the prob- 
lem of creation which has agitated the minds of scien- 
tists and philosophers from his day to this. 

Egyptian philosophy and religion were a unit. 
The Egyptians discriminated between the body and the 
spirit, and they were strong believers in the immor- 
tality of the soul. Moses was educated in the esoteric 
school of Egypt, and this was, doubtless, a reason for 
his being selected as the leader, the lawgiver and the 
historian of Israel. The Egyptians speculated much 
concerning the doctrine of metempsychosis ; they were 
materialists, and their religion was a revolt against the 
pantheism of India. 

Hanover, or Horn, was the first philosophic teacher 
among the Persians. He originated the sect called the 
Magi. The philosophy of Persia, however, centers in 
Zoroaster, the most distinguished philosopher of the 
sect. He is mentioned by Plato, who lived four 



314 POPULAR LECTURES. 

hundred years b. c. He speculated much concerning 
the relation of Ormazd to Ahriman. Ormazd was re- 
garded as the author of light, of right, and Ahriman 
of darkness and wrong. Some critics think that 
Zoroaster was a monotheist, as he believed in the final 
triumph of light over darkness, of good over evil. 
His philosophy appears to have strengthened the Jews 
in their monotheistic belief during the captivity; for 
after they came in contact with his disciples, they did 
not relapse again into polytheism. Whatever may 
have been the beneficial influence of Persian philosophy 
upon Judaism and Christianity, it is evident that it had 
a skeptical tendency in its influence in relation to the 
nature of the divine existence and the character of 
future reward. 

Confucius was the author of the Chinese system of 
philosophy. It recognizes the ultimate principle of all 
existence — the grand extreme, which is absolutely im- 
material, and the basis of the order of the universe. 
This principle existed from eternity, and from it came 
all animate and inanimate existence. Confucius was a 
moral philosopher ; he taught that the object of gov- 
ernment is to make the people virtuous and happy. 
His philosophy is really the State religion of China, 
and it has always been noted for its moral influence 
upon the people. While there are many things to 
praise in the Chinese system of philosophy, there can 
be no doubt that it was atheistic in its tendency. 

Cousin says that in all ages there have been four 
tendencies in philosophy — to realism, to idealism, to 
skepticism and to mysticism. Hindoo critics have 
found all these tendencies in the Indian system, of 
philosophy. They all agree in the one object of de- 



SKEPTICAL TENDENCIES OF PHILOSOPHY. 3 I £ 

liverance from the evils of time, change, sorrow, into 
an eternal rest and peace. President Milligan says: 
" It was reserved for modern Germany to bolster up 
this monstrous absurdity of India by all the lights and 
evidences of modern science." 

As we find a dualism in race and religion among 
the Greeks, so, also, do we find a similar dualism in 
their philosophy. The Ionian philosophers had a ten- 
dency to realism, while the Pythagorean had the oppo- 
site tendency to idealism. What fundamental element 
is there in nature from which all things have sprung? 
was the great problem with the Ionic sect of natural 
philosophers. We have had a great many answers to 
this question, and philosophy has not solved it even to 
the present time. When we examine their specula- 
tions concerning this question we are forced to conclude 
with the learned Dr. Scott, that a "child may learn 
more about it in a single hour from the first page of 
the sacred book than all the philosophers in the world 
learned in a thousand years without it." No unin- 
spired pen ever confidently recorded the sentence, 
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the 
earth." 

Philosophers next speculated concerning the nature 
of God and the true value of man, and did no better. 
They diverted the people from a revelation of God in 
nature and revelation, and left them to grope their way 
in the dark. All of this teaches that the finite can not 
supersede the infinite ; and that man is wise in humbly 
bowing to the will of God. 

Speculative philosophy was troubling the world in 
the days of the apostles. A dauntless apostle enjoined 
on the Christians of Colossae: "Beware lest any man 



3 l6 POPULAR LECTURES. 

spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit.'' This 
admonition would very properly apply to the Christian 
world. Had the Christian profession heeded it more, 
Christendom, at the present time, would be in a better 
condition. Men called Christians have philosophized 
themselves into the grossest forms of infidelity. They 
have been spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit. 
If philosophy has placed a false reason above a true 
faith — and when there is a supposed conflict it has ex- 
alted reason and ignored faith — then there has been, of 
course, a close connection between philosophy and in- 
fidelity. To this charge many of the schools of the 
past are compelled to plead guilty. 

Epicureanism and Stoicism were the prevailing 
philosophies of Athens in the days of Paul. One of 
the most important events in apostolic days was the 
preaching of Paul on Mars' Hill. He presented a 
Semitic religion to an Aryan race, and monotheism to 
the most elaborate polytheism' in the world. At the 
conclusion of that celebrated discourse the Epicureans 
mocked, and the Stoics went away indifferently, say- 
ing, "We will hear you again concerning this matter." 

Plato and Aristotle were the chiefs of the ancient 
schools. In them centered all the speculative philoso- 
phy of ancient Greece. The Platonic philosophy in a 
corrupt form had a very injurious effect upon the east- 
ern churches after the death of the apostles ; and that 
of Aristotle, also perverted, did much during the middle 
ages in strengthening the corruptions of the day. The 
Gnostics were really the disciples of Plato. Accord- 
ing to Neander, they were explaining outward things 
from within, i. e. } from their intuitions, which were 
above doubt. Gnosticism was a garb of philosophy in 



SKEPTICAL TENDENCIES OF PHILOSOPHY. 2> l 7 

which infidelity clothed itself, and disturbed the peace 
and purity of the ancient church. It was, without 
doubt, a fruitful source of infidelity. From it have 
emanated those deadly errors concerning the person of 
Christ, which have tarnished the fair form of primitive 
Christianity. Origen, who was at the head of the Al- 
exandrian school of divinity, employed an allegorical 
style in interpreting the Bible, similar to that employed 
by the New Platonists in commenting on Grecian 
mythology and the Iliad of Homer. We can place 
but little confidence in their interpretations of the 
Bible, according to Broadus, a recent critic, and the 
reason which he assigns is the fact that they united a 
spurious philosophy with Christianity. During the 
ascendency of the Platonic philosophy, Aristotle 
was regarded with aversion, as the armor-bearer of 
heretics; but, finally, the philosophy of the Stagyrite 
triumphed in the West. From the seventh century 
onward the Scholastic Philosophy reigned in the very 
bosom of the church, giving the law of faith to the 
subject consciences of millions. Mr. Hallam, in speak- 
ing of the great admiration which the schoolmen had 
for the writings of Aristotle, says: "With all their 
apparent conformity to the received creed, there was, 
as might be expected from the circumstances, a great 
deal of deviation from orthodoxy, and even of infi- 
delity. The scholastic mode of dispute, admitting of 
no termination, and producing no conviction, was a 
sure cause of skepticism." 

" Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy." 

As ancient philosophy has had two extreme ten- 
dencies — the one to an extreme realism, the other to 



3 I 8 POPULAR LECTURES 

an extreme idealism, both leading to infidelity — let us 
for a time study the character of modern philosophy, 
and see what have been its tendencies. There have 
been two systems in modern times, which have been 
productive of a vast amount of skepticism : I mean 
sensationalism and transcendentalism. We go to France 
for the development of the one, and to Germany for 
the development of the other. 

The sensational philosophy has had a wide-spread 
influence, and it has been destructive to the effects of 
a pure religion. It was at one time the creed of the 
greater part of philosophical Europe. Hobbes, and 
not Locke, was the originator of it. ' ' Nihil est intel- 
lectu quod non priiis fueret i?i sens?*," was the psychology 
of Hobbes, and not necessarily the psychology of 
John Locke. Sensationalism led to materialism, which 
has been destructive to the principles of a pure relig- 
ion. Materialism prepared the way for atheism, which 
denies the existence of God. This is the grossest 
form of infidelity. It reaches the climax. It places 
man without a maker in a world which had no creator. 
It sweeps away with one mighty stroke all hopes of 
the future. The desire and expectation of an eternal 
home, which permeate the human heart, and comfort 
man in the hour of death, are vain delusions. If 
atheism be true, it legitimately follows that man, in his 
destiny, has no preeminence over the brute ; for death 
would be to both an eternal sleep. We see, then, to 
what sensationalism has led ; and we may add that it 
bathed France in blood. 

History teaches us that idealism has had no less 
tendency to skepticism than has sensationalism. This 
ideal philosophy, which has been fully developed in Ger- 



SKEPTICAL TENDENCIES OF PHILOSOPHY. 319 

many, dates from Leibnitz. He was a bitter opponent 
of Locke, and a disciple of Descartes. Rationalism 
has been since his time the favorite philosophy of the 
Germans. They seek truth only in reason. Ideas, 
they maintain, are innate, and depend not upon ex- 
perience. All knowledge is with them subjective. 
They attach no importance to the external evidences of 
Christianity. Hegel has a Christology, but it is the 
creation of his own philosophy. He believes in a 
God, but it is a God without personality, except in 
the human mind. The results of this philosophy are 
easily to be seen. 

It is evident that philosophy, in both ancient and 
modern times, has had extreme tendencies. It has on 
the one hand, developed from an extreme realism into 
naturalism, sensationalism, materialism, atheism ; on 
the other, it has gone from an extreme idealism into 
mysticism, spiritualism, transcendentalism, pantheism, 
rationalism. 

There is no antagonism between a true philosophy 
and a pure religion. They are both children of the 
light, and are designed to go together. "It is in 
pride, in reasoning pride, the error lies. " Eclecticism, 
in a proper sense of that word, presents to us a true 
philosophy. "Philosophy," says Morell, "is the 
science of first principles — that, namely, which inves- 
tigates the primary grounds and determines the funda- 
mental certainty of human knowledge generally." 
Max Muller says that the first problems of what we 
call philosophy, were suggested by religion. Cousin 
insists that there is much truth in all the systems of 
the past, or they would not have had the influence 
which they have wielded over the human mind. Ec- 



320 POPULAR LECTURES. 

lecticism finds the truth in the golden mean between 
the extremes which have agitated the philosophical 
and religious world in all ages. It very properly be- 
comes the arbiter between science and religion. It 
studies, with the true philosophical spirit, God's will 
as it is impressed upon all nature and revealed in 
the Bible. It is like a certain naturalist who could see 
God in every flower. "The heavens declare the glory 
of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork;'* 
the beautiful stars that nightly glitter in the sky, 

" Forever singing as they shine, 
The hand that made us is divine." 

With this spirit, let us examine for a short time 
some of the great problems with which philosophy has 
so long concerned itself. 

1 ' In the beginning God created the heavens and 
the earth." This introduces us to the beginning of 
the Bible and the commencement of all science. Many 
ancient philosophers believed in the eternity of matter. 
Modern science has demonstrated that matter was 
created. In this modern science and the Bible are in 
harmony. "God created the heavens and the earth." 
The Bible reveals the existence of God, and leaves 
philosophy to demonstrate its truth. "The invisible 
things of him from the creation of the world are 
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are 
made, even his eternal power and Godhead ; so that 
they are without excuse" (Rom. i. 20). 

John Stuart Mill says that the theist, in his debates 
with the atheist, must stick to the argument from de- 
sign. Dugald Stuart gives us the following concise 
propositions: First, "Everything which begins to ex- 



SKEPTICAL TENDENCIES OF PHILOSOPHY. 321 

ist must have a cause;" second, "A combination of 
means conspiring to a particular end implies intelli- 
gence." These are the propositions of the eminent 
Dr. Reid: "That design may be traced from its 
effects;" second, "That there is evidence of design in 
the universe." Evolution can not exceed involution. 
In this world we have personality, thought, wisdom, 
goodness, and moral law in effect. These things must 
have existed in their antecedent cause. Therefore, 
the author of this moral universe is a lawgiver who 
possesses personality, thought, wisdom and good- 
ness. 

' ' In the image of God created he him, male and 
female created he them." We have here the divine 
origin of marriage. The science of sociology teaches 
us that the nations which have observed the true mon- 
ogamy of the Bible have prospered ; while God has 
swept those which have adopted polygamy with the 
very besom of destruction. One modern skeptic has 
much to say about the rib story. That man lost a rib 
is shown in the fact that you seldom find a man who 
is satisfied until the lost is found. 

A true philosophy throws light upon the doctrine 
of a resurrection and future life. The particles of the 
body, according to chemistry, change every seven 
years. It requires, therefore, something more than 
body to preserve the identity of man. Philosophy in- 
sists upon the existence of spirit as well as body, and 
that the body largely conforms to the character of the 
spirit. In I. Cor. vi., Paul teaches that a natural body 
is sown, but a spiritual body raised. There will be 
identity of body, but not in the particles which com- 
pose the body. The spiritual body will be exactly 



322 POPULAR LECTURES. 

adapted to the spirit of the saint which Christ will 
bring with him. Philosophy also intimates the revo- 
lution which this earth will undergo by fire, and the 
new earth which will succeed it. The most eminent 
scientists teach that the earth is cooling, and that it 
is approaching the sun. When it strikes the sun the 
concussion will set both on fire. In II* Pet. iii. 10, we 
have the following: "The day of the Lord will come 
as a thief in the night ; in the which the heavens shall 
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works 
that are therein shall be burned up." Philosophy in- 
timates that from this chaotic mass new heavens and a 
new earth will be created. The Bible clearly teaches 
that this will be the case. 

The religions of the world before the Christian 
were ethnic ; each adapted to the nation of its adop- 
tion. The Christian is universal, comprehending the 
truths contained in all the rest, and much more. The 
philosophical schools of the past have been partial. 
Eclecticism comprehends their truths and much more. 
The preaching of a pure religion, and the proper 
teaching of a true philosophy will triumph over all 
error, and remove every impediment out of the way 
of an advancing civilization. 



VOLTAIRE AND MODERN INFIDELITY. 

[Delivered in Fort Worth, Texas.] 

Voltaire was the most brilliant literary light of the 
eighteenth century. He lived to be eighty-four years 
of age, and nearly all his life was spent in literary pur- 
suits. In early life he was placed under an infidel 
teacher, and his entire career was influenced by such 
instruction. A monk truly predicted that he would be 
a leading infidel. The priest was right who claimed 
that the first ten years' teaching of the child influ- 
ences the entire life of that person. There is nothing 
more important than to properly train the young, for 
as the twig is bent the tree will certainly be inclined. 
It is a sad thing to think that many parents are more 
interested in the training of their horses than they are 
in training their children, 

Voltaire showed the religious tendency of man's 

nature in the fact that he always had a tendency to 

worship. He was a deist, and bitterly opposed to 

atheism. He was fully convinced that atheism would 

destroy any State, and wrote a number of articles 

against it. He claimed that his opposition was against 

superstition, and not against religion. He always 

favored the Protestants, and when he lived near the 

borders of Switzerland he built a church. He died 

worshiping God, and was not so bad a man as some 

supposed he was. It is very unfortunate that his in- 

323 



324 POPULAR LECTURES. 

fluence has gone against religion itself instead of being 
simply directed against superstition. 

Voltaire is certainly the central figure of modern 
infidelity, for all other systems have been largely de- 
veloped from him. He spent three years in England, 
and had a wonderful influence upon the skeptical ten- 
dencies of that country. He was, through his friend, 
Bolingbroke, introduced to the leading men of Eng- 
land, and became for a time almost a national idol. 
English deism has developed into agnosticism, which 
now makes evolution its idol. The word agnostic 
translated into Latin means ignoramus, and it very 
properly represents some recent tendencies. The 
agnostic is the man who claims not to know anything, 
but thinks he knows everything. He criticises Moses 
as saying that the universe was made out of nothing, 
when Moses says nothing of the kind. If he had, it 
would have only been employing the common language 
of man. We pour water out of a pitcher and say that 
there is nothing in it, when, in reality, it is full of air. 
Paul says that the things that are seen were not made 
out of things that appear. They were, then, made 
out of things that do not appear. The agnostic also 
abuses Moses for saying that the universe was created 
six thousand years ago, when Moses says nothing of 
the kind. Moses only says that it was in the begin- 
ning. It may have been millions of years ; time 
sufficient for all the tadpoles of the universe to have 
developed into infidel philosophers, if they would so 
develop. 

Voltaire spent several years at the court of Freder- 
ick the Great of Prussia. For a time he was greatly 
beloved by the King, and enjoyed many privileges. 



VOLTAIRE AND MODERN INFIDELITY. 325 

He was, however, too avaricious to suit the frugal 
king. He asked money to bring his niece (then the 
ugliest woman in Europe) to Berlin. The king replied 
that he had not solicited the lady's company. Vol- 
taire was envious of all other writers of note, and this 
caused him a great deal of trouble. He needed the 
religion of Christ to check this evil tendency in his 
nature. He and the king finally parted as enemies, 
and he took away a manuscript of the king's poetry. 
The king had him arrested, thrown into jail, and the 
jailer extorted a great deal of money from him. This 
shows how infidels love one another. I do not think 
that Voltaire intended to claim the poetry as his own, 
for I do not believe that he would have fathered Fred- 
erick's poetry for half of Europe. The king and Vol- 
taire did much to make Germany so fearfully rational- 
istic during the eighteenth century. Fichte went into 
subjecting idealism, Schelling into objective idealism, 
and Hegel into absolute idealism. Hegel was gener- 
ally regarded as favorable to Christianity, and many of 
the clergy were his disciples. It was the left wing of 
the Hegelian philosophy, represented by Strauss, that 
was so fearfully rationalistic. Schopenhauer and Von 
Hartmann are the more recent representatives of the 
absolute philosophy in Germany. Schopenhauer was a 
pessimist of the worst kind, but the pessimism of 
Hartmann does not greatly differ from the optimism of 
many philosophers. The tendency at the present in 
Germany is much more favorable to Christianity. 

The French did not stop long with the deism of 
Voltaire and Rousseau ; Diderot and the Encyclopaedists 
went into the most daring atheism. Their system 
banished God from the universe, and made immortality 



326 POPULAR LECTURES. 

a dream. They had troublous times in France, and a 
bloody reign of terror. The great Napoleon wisely 
concluded that religion must be restored or the nation 
go to ruin. The history of the French people teaches 
the significant fact that a nation can not be thoroughly 
atheistic and. subsist. 

Infidelity was early introduced into this country 
by Paine, Priestley and Parker. We had three waves 
strike our shores — one from France, one from England 
and one from Germany. 

Tom Paine in early life was a preacher, but soon 
became converted to the deism of Voltaire. He was 
in France a number of years, and at one time was 
a member of the National Assembly. Like Voltaire 
and Rousseau, he stopped with deism, and never did go 
into atheism. He said that he believed in God, and 
hoped for a future life. Joseph Priestley was a Uni- 
tarian preacher, and preached until his death. A few 
years ago I visited the church at Northumberland, Pa., 
where he preached. He died an advocate of the 
Christian religion, and a believer in a future state. 
Theodore Parker was a student of German rationalistic 
theology. He was a Unitarian preacher, and repre- 
sented one wing of Unitarianism, while Channing 
represented the other. In spite of his skeptical ten- 
dencies he was a great reformer ; and he said some 
things on temperance that ought, at this time, to be 
extensively circulated. 

Any person who will study the skeptical tendencies 
of the past, will be thoroughly convinced that man is 
eminently a religious being, and will not be satisfied 
without some kind of religion. While the great men 
whose names I have mentioned were skeptical in many 



VOLTAIRE AND MODERN INFIDELITY. 327 

respects, in others they were religious, and some of 
them were teachers of religion. How much better it 
is for man to be guided by the oracles of God than by 
the speculations of men ; for, on the great problems 
of life, the Bible is brief and explicit. If it contained, 
on the subject of creation alone, all the speculations 
of modern scientists, we would have to have a wagon 
to carry around the manuscripts, and a man would 
have to live as long as did Methusaleh to read it. A 
child can learn more from the first page of the sacred 
book about the origin of things than all the philoso- 
phers in the world can learn in a thousand years with- 
out it. 

It is very difficult for Christian writers to get the 
attention of infidels. They assume, without earnest 
thought or proper examination, that the Bible is a 
fable ; Christianity, priestcraft ; and Jesus, an impostor. 
They, then, act upon this assumption as if it were an 
established fact. This is one of the great dangers of 
infidelity, which causes it to stupefy the sensibilities of 
men, and disqualify them for reasoning. It renders 
them indifferent, reckless and sensual. Skepticism has 
no foundation or basis upon which to rest. It is with- 
out material or builders, and can, of course, never 
erect an edifice of its own. Its work is to tear down 
buildings already erected. It neither affirms, nor does 
it establish anything. It is a negation, and always in 
the objective case. It is much easier to tear down 
than it is to build up ; but the building that the infidel 
is trying to pull down is founded upon a rock, and it 
can never be moved from its foundations. 

Infidelity has no central principle around which to 
attract men. It presents no doctrine or constitution, 



328 POPULAR LECTURES. 

but consists of only denials of what others believe. 
It sometimes causes men to give up their faith, but 
binds them to nothing. They are wandering stars 
without any attractive power to keep them in their or- 
bits, and they soon gravitate to destruction. When a 
man is released from all religious restraint, there are 
elements in him which will drive him to ruin. A 
modern nation has tried the experiment, to its own 
eternal disgrace. 

' Infidelity has never made a bad man better. It has 
no reformatory power. Contrast its influence with 
that of Christianity, and this will eternally condemn it 
in the eyes of all fair-minded persons. The Christian 
religion has made good men out of bad ones, but infi- 
delity has made bad men out of good ones. Skepti- 
cism is not medicine, but the absence of it ; it is not 
food, but the absence of it ; it is not light, but the ab- 
sence of it. It takes from a man everything, and gives 
him nothing in return. It robs him of all hope of 
heaven, and only gives him a silent and eternal grave 
as a substitute. 

The man who rejects Christianity should have 
something more than doubts upon which to stand. 
As we are religious beings, it is our duty to hold to 
the Christian religion until we can find a better religion 
to substitute in its place. It would be the hight of 
folly for a man to throw away all the bread he has, un- 
less he can find more wholesome food. We can not 
do without a religion, for our nature demands one ; 
the Christianity of the Bible is the purest religion in 
this world ; the man who rejects it must, then, sin 
against his own nature. 



THE HIGHEST CULTURE AND CHRISTIAN- 
ITY. 

[Delivered in Louisville, Ky., and before the Faculty and Students of South 
Kentucky College, Hopkinsville, Ky.] 

The word educate is from the Latin, educo , Italian, 
■educare ; and it means to lead out; to bring forth; to 
develop. The popular idea of education, that it is some- 
thing placed into the mind, is entirely wrong ; for the 
object of education is the development of the mind, 
instead of crowding it with much material. When 
the mind of man is simply receptive and not active, 
it becomes dwarfed. The term education includes 
everything that tends to develop the physical, the in- 
tellectual and the moral powers of man. In this ex- 
tended sense, it commences at birth, continues through 
life and extends into eternity. 

Physical Training. 

In many of the ancient religions the body was 

thought to be the enemy of the soul. The religious 

man, therefore, thought it his duty to weaken the 

body as much as possible without destroying life. 

The body was kept under mortifying practices, such 

as want of sleep, poor clothes, living outdoors, and 

even self-inflicted torture. The Egyptian was the 

only nation of antiquity that had any respect for the 

body. It was a religious duty among the Egyptians 

to take proper care of the body during life, and pre- 

339 



330 POPULAR LECTURES. 

serve it as long as possible after death. They saw 
something divine in all living organization ; to them 
the vital power was inscrutable, as it is also to us, and 
with great reverence did they embalm the human 
body. Christian nations have followed the Brahmins 
and Buddhists in their treatment of the body more 
than they have followed the Egyptians. But there is 
no such doctrine taught in the New Testament ; it is 
our duty to glorify God with our bodies as well as with 
our spirits. While the ancient nations, with the ex- 
ception of the Egyptians, made no provisions for the 
future welfare of the body ; Paul prayed that the whole 
body might be preserved blameless until the coming 
of Christ. We should glorify God with our body by 
keeping it in good health; for good health is the basis 
of all physical, intellectual, moral and religious de- 
velopment. Sometimes powerful souls triumph over 
bodily disease, permanent invalids become thinkers 
and workers ; but this is the exception, not the rule, 
for usually a sick thinker has something sickly in 
his thought. Calvin, whose life was darkened by dis- 
ease, had a gloomy element in his theology. The 
work of physical degeneracy is commenced in our 
schools. Custom, which is a powerful tyrant, often 
prevents teachers making such reformation as they 
much desire. When provisions are made for the phys- 
ical welfare of the students, the parents complain, and 
claim that too much time is given to recreation, and 
not enough to study. One of the most mischievous 
things connected with our higher institutions of learn- 
ing is the tendency to over-study on the part of 
many students. When a horse is over-worked, there 
is great dissatisfaction ; and much attention is given to 



THE HIGHEST CULTURE AND CHRISTIANITY. 33 1 

his food, and great care is taken of him because of his 
value. Kentuckians are more interested in the physical 
training of their horses than in the physical training 
of their children. It is our duty, not only to keep 
the body from disease, but to develop all of its fac- 
ulties. Education has neglected too long the cul- 
ture of the body ; for it can be as easily improved as 
the mind. The singer trains her voice to express 
every cadence and inflection of a song ; why can not 
the voice of students be trained to equal accuracy in 
reading and spelling ? Every organ of the body can 
be trained. The Greeks, by their gymnastic exercises, 
developed the force, grace and symmetry of the hu- 
man form, and their artists have preserved in immortal 
marble the best types of mankind. 

Good physical training makes man refined ; 
It calms the passions and supports the mind. 

Intellectual Development. 

God, who placed the trees and flowers in the world 
to grow, also placed man here for the same purpose. 
They grow unconsciously, but man is educated by cir- 
cumstances, and he is able largely to control the cir- 
cumstances. He can educate himself by cultivating 
his powers, and developing his character. As God 
has given him this power, it is, of course, his duty to 
do it. This duty has been very plainly taught by 
Jesus in the parables of the talents and of the pounds. 
It is not only our duty to render back to our Saviour 
what we have received ; but we must add to it some- 
thing by our own industry. Those who tail to culti- 
vate the faculties which God has given them, will be 
held responsible at the day of judgment. Man is so 



332 POPULAR LECTURES. 

constituted that it is either improve or lose. Those 
who do not improve themselves can not render back 
even the talents given to them. You must not sup- 
pose that I think that the school and the college con- 
stitute the greater part of education. Far from it ; 
they only constitute a small part, and the greater part 
comes from other sources. Nature, life, and society 
educate. The larger part of human culture is made 
up of social influence, outward circumstances and in- 
ward experiences. Whatever tends to develop any 
faculty of the mind, of course, educates that faculty. 

In the development of the human intellect, the 
perceptive faculty is the first to claim our attention. 
It is said of Robert Houdin, the celebrated juggler, of 
France, that in educating his son for the same business 
he so trained him that he could pass a shop window in 
Paris and remember every article there exhibited. 
This teaches the quickness of perception to which the 
eye can be trained. The perceptive organs might be 
so developed that the weight, the size or color of any 
object could be told by once looking at it. No man 
can tell to what extent they might be improved, for no 
systematic effort has ever been made to educate them. 
The importance of their development is shown in the 
fact that it is only by them that the mind of man be- 
comes acquainted with the external world. The Indian 
by nature has no better eyes than the white man, but 
in some respects he has so trained his power of obser- 
vation, that no sign of the woods can escape him. 
The early pioneers of Kentucky soon learned this art, 
and Boone and his associates were fully equal to the 
Indians in their knowledge of the signs of the wilder- 
ness. The Bible places a duty upon the hearer as 



THE HIGHEST CULTURE AND CHRISTIANITY. 333 

well as upon the preacher; and the reason why so 
many people are ignorant of the Word of God as well 
as of Nature, is the fact that they fail to listen, to ob- 
serve, and to learn. The function of the reflective 
faculty is very different from that of the perceptive. 
It gives no knowledge ; but arranges and classifies that 
presented to it. It takes raw material, and so manu- 
factures it that we can use it. We do our thinking by 
means of reflection ; and the more we reflect the bet- 
ter we are enabled to think. The great intellectual 
difference between men is the fact that some think and 
others do not. Thinking is largely a matter of culti- 
vation, and it is man's duty to develop with great care 
these organs which God has given him as his viceger- 
ents in this world. The greatest laborers in this world 
are the thinkers. Thought is the most powerful force 
in this world to modify the aspect of nature and to 
make practical its forces. Thinking and civilization 
are really synonymous. The uncivilized races have 
muscular power, and powers of perception ; but they 
do not think. It is only the thinking man that has 
been able to conquer nature and advance in civiliza- 
tion. It is quite evident that any theory of education, 
in order to be correct, must provide for the systematic 
development of the different faculties of the human 
mind. Even the imagination must not be neglected, 
for it is a very essential element in education. As an 
intellectual faculty it gives us a knowledge of the beau- 
tiful ; and as a practical faculty, it creates art. It is 
imagination that causes the little girl to be so inter- 
ested with her doll, for she imagines it alive, and she 
its mother. She talks with it, feeds it, dresses it, un- 
dresses it, and puts it to bed. The imagination, like 



334 POPULAR LECTURES 

the other faculties of the mind, is capable of great im- 
provement. The intuitional element of man's nature 
is worthy of careful attention by all educators, for it 
gives us inward facts through the higher intellect. 
From it come our ideas of personal indetity, cause 
and effect, space and time, and a perception of the dis- 
tinction between right and wrong, good and evil. If 
more attention were given to the development of this 
faculty, it would stay the tide of materialism which is 
now deluging the country. 

The uneven development of the human mind, 
Causes men to infidelity to be inclined. 

Moral and Religious Development. 

One of the greatest faults in our present system of 
education is the neglect of moral and religious devel- 
opment. There never was a greater mistake than the 
supposition that intellectual development alone consti- 
tutes education. The moral and religious elements 
are a part of the mind, and their neglect must, neces- 
sarily, produce sad consequences. It is claimed that 
there is no unity of sentiment as to what constitutes a 
moral and a religious education. The same can be said 
of intellectual development. In the history of the 
human mind, there has always been unanimity among 
the wise. Disagreement is the parent of ultimate 
unity. 

Our schools tend too much to stimulate ambition, 
and cause envy. Rivalry and envy are among the 
greatest sins of the day. We are very much in need 
of more benevolence and generosity in all departments 
of life. Particular attention should be given to the 



THE HIGHEST CULTURE AND CHRISTIANITY. 335 

education of the conscience. The young should be 
taught to do right, because it is right, and not from 
policy. Men should be honest, not from policy, but 
because it is right. When students do right, it is the 
duty of their teachers to make them feel the sentiment 
of approbation by feeling it themselves. Great re- 
morse should be made to follow wrong acts. There are 
too many students who comply with the regulations of 
a school simply in form, but not in heart. They are 
like the little girl when her brother struck her. The 
mother told her to kiss her little brother, and heap 
coals of fire upon his head. The little girl ran up and 
kissed her brother, and then said: "Where is the 
shovel now? Where is the shovel now?" If the hu- 
man will were educated in youth, there would be much 
less yielding to temptation. Some persons have very 
weak wills, and can be influenced to do what they know 
to be wrong. Such wills, if the education commenced 
at a proper age, could be strengthened, and many be 
saved from hopeless ruin. The tendency to stubborn- 
ness could be also counteracted by a proper early 
training. 

" 'T is education forms the common mind ; 
Just as the twig is bent the tree 's inclined." — Pope. 

Does the Highest Culture Harmonize with Christianity ? 

The word culture is derived from the Latin cultura ; 
and it denotes the cultivation of all the faculties of the 
mind. We use the word very much in the sense in 
which the Germans use the word bildung. It is some- 
thing of an exotic in our language, but the best we 
can do. Christianity is not only in harmony with the 



336 POPULAR LECTURES. 

highest culture, but I believe that it comprehends 
such culture : first, because it is the culture of man's 
highest capacities ; secondly, it must acknowledge all 
the other capacities of man's nature as given by God, 
and important for cultivation to the highest extent. 
When Christianity fully accomplishes its mission, cul- 
ture will result in the perfection of humanity. 

1. The highest scientific culture has not been able 
to bridge the chasm between the organic and inorganic 
worlds. Even Strauss himself admitted that if this 
could not be done, the Bible idea of miracle must be 
correct. The theory of spontaneous generation has 
entirely exploded ; so the highest scientific culture 
points in the direction of the miraculous. True 
science certainly teaches that matter can not evolve 
organization, life, thought, emotion, conscience, and 
will. Some have tried to identify mind and matter ; 
but the properties of matter and the phenomena of 
mind are so entirely different, that any attempt to iden- 
tify them shows the most reckless speculation. The 
philosopher Kant was entirely scientific when he said, 
" Give me matter and I can form a universe ; but give 
me matter only, and I can not form a caterpillar." 

2. The highest philosophical culture and Christian- 
ity are in perfect harmony. A true philosopher is one 
who loves wisdom, and a daring speculator is not 
really entitled to the name philosopher. Philosophy, 
properly speaking, took its origin among the Greeks, 
and they had traditions pointing back to the time when 
men believed in the only living and true God. They 
had received their religion from the East, where mon- 
otheism was the only religion, in the early history of 
the race. When they knew God they glorified him 




THE HIGHEST CULTURE AND CHRISTIANITY. 337 

not as God ; but became vain in their imaginations, 
and their foolish heart was darkened (Rom. i. 21). 
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle obtained all the religious 
light that could be gotten from the Gentile world. 
They were really morning stars ushering in the light 
of a glorious day. They were schoolmasters pointing 
the nations to the Sun of Righteousness ; and were so 
regarded by the Christian fathers. These great phil- 
osophers avoided both an extreme realism and an ex- 
treme idealism. Christian teachers do not regard 
these philosophers as, in any sense, opposed to relig- 
ion. It is true that many of their followers went into 
skepticism ; but they took positions that the masters 
would not have sanctioned. 

The extreme materialistic and rationalistic ten- 
dencies of ancient philosophy are fearfully visible in 
the tendencies of modern speculation. As among the 
ancients, so among the moderns, the masters have held 
to the golden mean between skeptical extremes. The 
philosophies of Locke, Hamilton, and Kant, are not 
skeptical, when the legitimate rules of interpretation 
are applied to them. It is true that French material- 
ism has quoted Locke ; English agnosticism has 
quoted Hamilton ; and German rationalism has quoted 
Kant: but these philosphers have been made to say 
what they have never said, and would not endorse, if 
they were alive. These men endorsed the Christianity 
of the Bible. The fact that the greatest philosophers 
in the world are Christians, is positive evidence that 
the Christian religion is in harmony with the highest 
philosophic culture. 

3. Christianity also harmonizes with the highest 
literary and artistic culture. Mr. Arnold thinks that 




33^ POPULAR LECTURES. 

Shakespeare would have found the company of the 
Pilgrim Fathers intolerable. That may be, but Shakes- 
peare was a believer in the Christian religion. I have 
prepared a lecture on " Shakespeare and the Bible," 
and it is really wonderful how often this poet-philoso- 
pher refers to the Bible in his writings. John Milton was 
almost as great a literary genius as was Shakespeare, 
and he was a Puritan. It is said that Goethe would 
have hated Luther. I do not know how that might 
have been ; but I do know that Luther was about as 
great a literary man as was Goethe. The historian of 
German literature recognizes Luther as the founder of 
the German language and literature. All things con- 
sidered, we may safely say, that the greatest literary 
men in the world have been religious men. There is 
really no antagonism between Athens and Jerusalem, 
and Europe and Asia should be united in the dissem- 
ination of the truth. 

Religion furnishes material for art. The object of 
art is to express life and the highest ideal. Utilitarian- 
ism has always been a deadly foe to art. Where do 
we find the highest culture for the imagination, and 
that which presents the highest ideal? The answer 
must be, in the Christian religion. From whence came 
the grandest conceptions of Titian, Michael Angelo, 
and Raphael ? All students of art must answer, re- 
ligion. Those who study the productions of these 
masters will necessarily conclude that Christianity is 
not only in harmony with the highest artistic culture, 
but it also furnishes art with much of its material and 
inspiration. 



THE DESTINY OF THE AMERICAN 
REPUBLIC 

[Delivered at the Anniversary of the Birth of James A. Garfield, before the 
Philothean Society of Kentucky University, November 19, 1S86.] 

It has been claimed by some that a Republican 
form of government is peculiar to the Aryan race, and 
that the tendency of the Semitic and other races has 
been towards a despotic form of government. There 
may be some truth in the statement, but there are cer- 
tainly some very important exceptions. An infidel 
lecturer, who loves to talk about the " mistakes of 
Moses," claims to be a great advocate of Republican 
institutions. He ought to know that Moses founded 
the first Republic the world has ever known. He was 
"brought up amid the splendors of the Egyptian court, 
yet he took a people that had been slaves, and so or- 
ganized them as to present to the world the first ex- 
ample of a government of the people, by the people, 
and for the people. This Republic contained the 
Twelve United States of Israel, established in the 
desert, and organized on the principle of universal suf- 
frage. Elders were selected from among the people, 
with inferior judges, and finally courts of appeal were 
planted in Canaan. This federated nation of Israel 
had its organic law, a written constitution, and one of 
the wisest and most humane forms of government the 
world has ever known. 

The laws of the Israelitish Republic prevented such 

339 



340 POPULAR LECTURES 

an accumulation of wealth as to cause a conflict be- 
tween labor and capital. Jehovah claimed the land, 
and no one could part with it for a longer period than 
fifty years. No Israelite could live fifty years, and not 
be the possessor of landed property. When the year 
of jubilee came the lands all reverted back to their orig- 
inal owners. Monopoly was also prevented among 
the Israelites by the prohibition of all usury. The 
Republic of Israel was certainly one of the most pros- 
perous countries of antiquity. In the beautiful lan- 
guage of the Bible, each man dwelt "under his own 
vine- and fig-tree." Notwithstanding those happy 
times, the Israelites neglected to support their central 
government. They failed to select a successor to 
Joshua over the United Tribes of Israel. Love for 
the Federal Union among the different tribes gave way, 
and the people lost the patriotism of their fathers. 
Under the pious administration of Samuel, the disin- 
tegrating tendencies of the Republic were counter- 
acted, and the Federal Union was, for a time, restored. 
The sons of Samuel, however, were not in the image 
of their father, but were extremely corrupt, and the 
people became entirely dissatisfied with their govern- 
ment. To be like the surrounding nations, they asked' 
for a king ; and thus perished, after an existence of 
nearly four hundred years, the world's first Republic. 
The Carthaginian Republic, as well as the Repub 
lie of Israel, was founded by persons belonging to the 
Semitic race. It is thought by writers on the Philoso- 
phy of History that its founders were a race of liberty- 
loving refugees, who had suffered religious and polit- 
ical persecutions in ancient Tyre. Five centuries be- 
fore the coming of Christ, the Republic of Carthage 



THE DESTINY OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC. 34I 

was in a flourishing condition, under rulers selected 
from among the people, and by the people. When 
the conflict between Rome and Carthage commenced, 
Carthage, in many respects, had the advantage. 
Rome had an army, but Carthage had both army 
and navy. The commerce of the sea was controlled 
by Carthage, and she had become rich by the spoils of 
the East. She pushed her armies into Italy, and often 
struck terror to the Roman heart. Hannibal was in 
Italy seventeen years, and was nearly always victorious 
in his battles. He is now considered by historians 
the greatest general of ancient times, and is only to be 
compared in modern times to the first Napoleon. 

Why did such a Republic as Carthage fall after 
having existed for centuries ? It was wealth and lux- 
ury, which rendered her citizens effeminate and unpa- 
triotic, that finally caused her ruin. Her best citizens 
were no longer soldiers, and her armies were composed 
of the worst class and of foreigners. Individual 
wealth, political jealousies, and contending parties, 
might be written as an epitaph over the grave of the 
once noted Carthaginian Republic. The following 
lines of the poet express the feeling of posterity : 

" Delenda est Carthago ! let the tear 
Still drop, deserted Carthage, on thy bier; 
Let mighty nations pause as they survey 
The world's great empires crumbled to decay ; 
And hushing every rising tone of pride, 
Deep in the heart this moral lesson hide, 
Which speaks in hollow voice as from the dead, 
Of beauty faded and of glory fled — 
Delenda est Carthago." 



342 POPULAR LECTURES. 

The Athenian Democracy was established by a 
people of the great Aryan race, and in many respects 
its career was the most brilliant of any nation of 
antiquity. Athens was the queen of Greece, and de- 
lightfully located. In the age of Thucydides she had 
risen to such a degree of political importance that she 
exercised a kind of sovereignty over Greece, and be- 
came the center of the highest culture of antiquity. 
Still Athens fell, and what was the cause of it ? 

In the first place, her rapid increase of wealth caused 
a conflict in the social structure. Luxurious living 
caused the rich to lose their patriotism, and extreme 
poverty completely crushed the patriotic spirit out of 
the other class. Political corruption also made the 
people less sensitive about their liberties, and prepared 
them for a change in the government. It is said that 
the success of Miltiades at Marathon robbed Themis- 
tocles of his sleep. He was also so envious of Aris- 
tides that he would have preferred national defeat to 
success at the hands of his rival. There were doubt- 
less true patriots at Athens, but they were unable to 
check the deteriorating tendency, which soon sealed 
the fate of the once famous Athenian Republic. The 
clarion voice of Demosthenes could not arouse his 
countrymen from their stupor, and make them see the 
pretentious claims and the ambitious designs of the 
Macedonian. 

The Romans were of the same race as the Greeks, 
and established a Republic, which conquered nearly 
all the nations of the ancient world. The Republic 
lasted five hundred years, and Rome's greatest con- 
guests were accomplished in the days of the Republic. 
The early Romans were truly patriotic, and would not 



THE DESTINY OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 343 

permit even life to get between them and their duty to 
their country. Their women were domestic, and even 
their greatest warriors did not hesitate to cultivate the 
soil. It does look as if any government could be 
permanent, the Roman would. The Romans evidently 
believed that their government would be eternal, and 
inscribed this belief over their public gates. With all 
her indications of permanency, Rome fell ; and what 
were the causes of her fall ? 

Soon after the conquest of Macedonia, the Romans 
abandoned agriculture to slaves ; and not even Virgil's 
bucolics would change their minds in that respect. The 
people flocked to the city, and spent their time at 
theaters and gladitorial shows. The wealth and luxury 
of the Orient had greatly corrupted the people, and 
settled like a fatal miasm upon the once famous Re- 
public. The daughters of the women once noted for 
domestic virtues, spent their time in frivolous conver- 
sation and holding in their arms dogs and monkeys. 
Julius Caesar once reproved some women for lavishing 
upon brutes that affection which is due only to man- 
kind. Society became so corrupt that Shakespeare, 
by the mouth of Coriolanus, describes it as a reek of 
rotten fens. The body politic would not hold to- 
gether, and the Republic fell under the weight of its 
own corruption. 

The Italian Republics had a long and prosperous 
career, but finally lost their liberty, and became a prey 
to the most cruel despots. Florence was, at one time, 
the most flourishing city in Europe. Her armies had 
been successful abroad, and, according to MachiavelH, 
she was able to defend herself against the combined 
powers of Europe. She was the home of Michael 



344 POPULAR LECTURES. 

Angelo, Savonarola, and others of the most distin- 
guished men of modern times. She lost her liberty, 
and it was caused by the conduct of those who lived 
within her walls. Communistic mobs struck terror to 
the hearts of all good citizens, and prepared the way 
for the overthrow of the Republic. The Republic of 
Venice had a very similar experience to that of her 
sister Republic. She became very powerful, both 
upon the land and the sea, and had many colonies. 
She was at one time mistress of the Mediterranean ; 
and the Venetians have been properly called the Tyr- 
ians of the Middle Ages. Her commercial enterprises 
made her chief citizens immensely wealthy, and they 
thought more about their private fortunes than the 
welfare of their country. Her armies were composed 
largely of foreigners, who only fought for money, and 
were ready at any time, when personal interest de- 
manded it, to turn their backs upon the Republic. So 
in 1797, the oldest Republic in the world, the one that 
had held out against the combined armies of Europe 
and had humbled Barbarossa, submitted to Napoleon 
without a struggle. 

The Republic of the United Netherlands affords a 
subject for serious study to all students of the science 
of civil government. No people ever had a greater 
struggle for liberty than did the inhabitants of the 
United Provinces. The King of Spain planted among 
them the Inquisition, and determined to subdue them 
to the Roman See. The conflict was long and bloody, 
but Holland finally triumphed, and in 1648 the great 
powers of Europe acknowledged the independence of 
the Republic of the United Netherlands. Her strug- 
gles had made her people patriotic, and her prosperity 



THE DESTINY OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC. 345 

for more than a hundred years had scarcely been 
equalled by another modern State. She crushed the 
Spaniards, did much to humble Louis XIV., and even 
made the English nation tremble. She was mistress of 
the sea, swept the English Channel of all opposers, 
and blockaded the port of London. In art and science, 
and particularly in painting, she attracted the admira- 
tion of the world. But her glory has departed ; the 
Republic fell : and why such a sad fate ? The great 
accumulation of wealth on the part of the few, soon 
led to a conflict between labor and capital, and the 
question was carried into politics. Social and political 
corruption caused general dissatisfaction, and finally 
the Stadtholder was placed upon the throne of the once 
famous Dutch Republic. 

It becomes an interesting question with Americans, 
in studying the fate of the Republics of the past, to 
know if they really sound the knell of all the existing 
and future Republics. Have we good reasons for sup- 
posing that our institutions are permanent, or will 
their glory depart, as did the greatness of the Repub- 
lics of the past ? We have many dangers to encounter, 
which I want to fully recognize ; but, after all, I see 
reasons for the continuance of the American Repub- 
lic that did not exist in the case of the Republics we 
have mentioned. 

It is claimed that the extent of territory in the 
United States makes sectional differences extremely 
dangerous to the Republic. The foreigners, who are 
constantly coming to our shores, it is thought, will 
finally destroy patriotism in America. The conflicts 
between labor and capital are omens of impending 
danger. The liquor traffic is certainly dangerous to 



34^ POPULAR LECTURES. 

Republican institutions. The liquid fire which deluges 
our land is a perversion of Nature's gifts, and a prosti- 
tution of their life-saving properties to the work of 
death. It is a partnership of no profit to the State, 
for the revenue derived from it is not sufficient to 
support the pauperism it causes. The tendency on 
the part of the people to leave the country and go to 
the large cities, is unfavorable to the highest prosper- 
ity. The cities soon develop a dangerous class, which 
leads to communistic and other fearful troubles. The 
abandonment of agricultural pursuits was one of the 
principal steps which led to the overthrow of the 
Roman Republic. Political corruption is a fearful 
breaker, upon which free institutions have frequently 
been wrecked. The rival parties do not appear to have 
any conscience in reference to the way in which they 
treat each other. George Washington, in his farewell 
address, warned the people against the dangerous ten- 
dency to partyism in political affairs. Having before 
our minds the dangers that beset the great ship of 
State, are there any counteracting tendencies that will 
enable her to move on in all her greatness ? I think 
there are, and will now proceed to give them : 

While we have a great extent of territory, the 
facilities for traveling are such that all are neighbors. 
The distinctions between North and South, East and 
West, are rapidly disappearing. It is true that many 
foreigners are coming to this country, but our public 
school system is rapidly making them Americans. We 
can not appreciate its importance too highly, for the 
citizens of a republic must be educated. The seat of 
a juryman who was absent from court was taken pos- 
session of by his dog. The Judge, not observing this,. 



THE DESTINY OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC. 34/ 

told a lawyer to proceed, as the seats were all occu- 
pied. The lawyer responded that that fellow might do 
for a judge, but he would not do for a juryman. An 
ignorant citizen may do for a monarchy, but he will not 
do for a democracy. While the liquor traffic is ex- 
tremely dangerous to our free institutions, I am fully 
satisfied that the prohibition cause will fully do justice 
by it. A criminal once asked his lawyer if he thought 
the jury would do justice by him. The lawyer told 
him he thought not, for he saw two persons on the 
jury opposed to capital punishment. There are some 
in this country opposed to applying capital punishment 
to the liquor traffic, but that number is rapidly dimin- 
ishing. 

The educational influence of Christianity will do 
much to counteract the social and political evils that 
endanger our liberties. There is no true education, 
according to Cousin, De Tocqueville, Herbert Spencer, 
John Locke, Daniel Webster, and Prof. Huxley, with- 
out religious instruction. Huxley has decided in favor 
of using the Bible as a reading book in the common 
schools. He says: " There must be a moral sub- 
stratum to a child's education, to make it valuable, and 
there is no other source from which it can be attained 
at all comparable with the Bible." 

At the close of our civil war, there was a dinner 
party given in Paris, France, by American citizens 
living in that city. Sundry toasts were propounded, 
not so much concerning the past and present, as the 
future of the Republic. One of the speakers said, 
"The United States is bounded on the North by Brit- 
ish America, on the South by the Gulf of Mexico, on 
the East by the Atlantic, and on the West by the Pa- 



34§ POPULAR LECTURES. 

cific Ocean." The second speaker remarked that his 
friend had taken too limited a view of the subject, and 
that we must look to the future. He said : ' ' The United 
States is bounded on the North by the North pole, on 
the South, by the South pole, on the East by the ris- 
ing, and on the West by the setting sun." The third 
speaker spoke of the manifest destiny of the Republic, 
and bounded it as follows: "On the North by the 
Aurora Borealis, on the South by the precession of 
the equinoxes, and on the East by primeval choas, 
and on the West by the day of judgment. " These 
look like extravagant statements, but according to the 
law of progressive development, the future of the Am- 
erican Republic will be glorious. Civilization has al- 
ways traveled Westward, and the United States cer- 
tainly occupy the territory of the terminal point. 
One of the greatest dangers that the Republics 
of the past had to encounter was aggressive war. 
When they were in trouble at home, other na- 
tions, like wild beasts, would prounce upon them, 
and crush out their life. Our location is such that 
we are in no danger from other powers. Our institutions 
are having a marvelous influence upon other nations. 
France, our earliest friend, has became a Republic, and 
has presented to us as a token of her affection, a grand 
statue of Liberty. In our political affairs, we are 
learning to appreciate the pure and good, as shown 
in the selection of the pious Garfield for the highest 
office in the land. That we may have continued pros- 
perity, let us ever hold up as examples for the young 
the virtues of a Washington, who fought for his coun- 
try, and the virtues of a Garfield, who died for its com- 
plete harmonization. The Anglo-Saxon race will evi- 



THE DESTINY OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC. 349 

dently in the future civilize the world, and the American 
Republic will be ready to do her part. We have a 
language more universal in its character than any other 
language. England has already largely civilized the 
East, and the islands of the sea. We will travel west- 
ward and meet her, and spread a Christian civilization 
throughout the Orient. Under the influence of inter- 
national law, the principles of federation will continue 
to grow, until the world becomes one great federation, 
and the nations will know war no more. 

" Thou, too, sail on, O ship of State ! 
Sail on, O Union, strong and great ! 
We know what master laid thy kneel, 
What workmen wrought thy ribs of steel, 
Who make each mast and sail and rope, 

What anvils rang, what hammers beat, 

In what a forge and what a heat 
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope." 



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